Solar panels have a useful life of at least 25 years, and many are going to last much longer. 

Some panels never see their golden years, though: they are smashed by hail, trees, or coconuts. As the solar industry explodes, tens and then hundreds of millions of solar panels will be out of service each year in the not so distant future.

These panels need recycling.

Solar panels comprise only a few components: Aluminum frame, glass, junction box, and multilayer sheet that contains the “active” part of the solar panels – the silicon wafer.

Components of a silicon solar panel. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

We can recycle these components almost entirely.

Several solar panel recycling plants that can also recycle the sheet with the silicon wafers came online this year, such as the ROSI Alpes plant in France.

More solar recycling plants must be built and legislation must be enacted to mandate and enforce recycling. Work needs to be done. A lot of work. But this is a problem that has a straightforward solution where most of the recovered materials can make new solar panels.

A new sun will rise from the rubble.