Solar power developers are required to pay recycling fees for installing solar panels, and those caught illegally dumping panels would face a fine of up to NT$3 million (US$100,164), the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
The EPA has, in cooperation with the Bureau of Energy, set up a recycling system for solar panel waste, EPA Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) told a news conference in Taipei.
The system was established to prevent heavy metal pollution caused by decommissioned photovoltaic panels and to foster a circular economy within the solar power industry, she said.
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
With the government’s aim to generate 20 gigawatts of electricity from solar power by 2025 as part of its energy transformation policy, the EPA estimates that more than 100,000 tonnes of solar panels would be decommissioned each year, starting from 2035, in addition to waste materials caused by natural disasters.
Solar power developers planning to install solar panels first have to obtain a registration number for each panel from the energy bureau and pay a recycling fee of NT$1,000 for every kilowatt, Lai said.
To handle used panels, developers have to file an application with the EPA’s online solar panel recycling system, and the Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association would help recycle them, Lai said.
For personal installations, people can call the EPA hotline at (03) 582-0009 on proper waste disposal and recycling, she said.
Photovoltaic panels consist of 74.16 percent glass, 10.3 percent aluminum, 3.35 percent silicon, 0.57 percent of copper, and other precious metal and plastic components, she said.
Waste disposal firms process discarded panels by separating the glass from their battery sets, recycling the two materials for different purposes, she said.
Power developers caught illegally dumping obsolete panels or asking unlicensed firms to deal with them would be fined up to NT$3 million under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), she said.
The EPA last month helped recycle 50 solar panels decommissioned from an energy installation site in Penghu County, where solar panels are more easily eroded due to salty and humid conditions.
The recycling fee collected by the energy bureau would go into a special fund, the EPA said, adding that nearly NT$200 million in panel recycling fees are expected to be collected this year.
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