Project R-16045

Photovoltaic Re-options for Socially Inclusive Life-cycle Innovations Enabling a Circular Economy (Research)

To enable the energy transition, large-scale solar power generation is essential. However, current solutions face limitations in terms of integration into the built environment, sustainability of the materials used, recyclability, CO₂ footprint, and geopolitics. In PV RESILIENCE we address this by developing new technologies for, and locally manufacturing, sustainable, circular, and integrated solar power products. The Netherlands has the highest solar power generation capacity per capita—and even per square kilometre—in the world, and it continues to grow rapidly. In 2023, the Netherlands and Flanders installed 4.2 and 1.0 GWp of new solar panels, respectively. Only a small share is of European origin, with the Netherlands even being the largest importer of Chinese solar panels. Conventional solar panels (i.e., PV modules) are fully optimised for quality and cost, with little attention paid to circularity and sustainability. The production of solar panels does, however, emit CO₂, especially during the purification of silicon for the solar cells. Circularity is another major challenge. Due to the use of strong adhesives and encapsulants (polymeric adhesives between the cells and the encapsulation) required to achieve a 20–40 year lifetime, the most commonly used recycling strategies do not yield high-quality products. This waste stream is expected to grow to megatonnes per year within 20 years and is already publicly referred to as "a ticking time bomb." Both the Netherlands and Flanders have ambitious plans for the coming decades to generate much more solar power. This ambition, together with societal pushback, means that integrated PV products will play an increasingly important role in using available space as efficiently as possible. Governments recognise the importance of sustainability and circularity and promote this in the Netherlands through procurement via the Buyer Group for Sustainable Solar Panels. The award of the complementary NGF SolarNL also demonstrates the value of local production. In addition, the Flemish government has set up the Local Energy and Climate Pact, in which the rollout of renewable energy in the built environment is one of the four core pillars. The Dutch government is also aiming for 100% reuse by 2050, through three basic strategies: design for circularity; circular value chains and processes; and social change (trust, behaviour, and acceptance). The "Vlaanderen Circulair" initiative is a similar driver for the circular economy in Flanders. These ambitions align perfectly with the political objective of at least 40% European production. Establishing European infrastructure in which production, use, reuse, repair, and high-value recycling come together in closed-loop processes is an opportunity to boost the circular PV economy in Europe. Cross-border collaboration as envisaged in PV RESILIENCE is essential in this respect, as described in the scientific literature. In the NL-FL region there are opportunities in manufacturing and reprocessing technologies for circular solar panels thanks to the presence of global players in circular plastics (SABIC), metals (Umicore), and glass (AGC), as well as the high-tech industry, but also in solar power generation through circular, integrated building components. The region has invested for many years in innovative solar integration, including, for example, Interreg PV OpMaat, Solar EMR, the Crossroads sub-project, and OPZuid "Circular Multi-colour Façade PV Factory." PV RESILIENCE addresses a unique regional opportunity and focuses on the largely unexplored theme of circular, sustainable, and multifunctionally integrated solar power products. In doing so, we bring together a strong regional manufacturing and application value chain in a single project. The technical focus is on product designs and materials that facilitate not only end-of-life processing but also interim repair and component reuse. PV RESILIENCE combines these technical developments with activities to increase acceptance of these circular and sustainable approaches among residents and society at large, and to embed them in the circular economy.

01 August 2025 - 31 July 2028