It is to expected take 155 days to completely remove the 135,000 damaged solar panels left by Typhoon Danas in July, environmental groups said on Wednesday, urging the establishment of a mechanism to manage waste solar panels and ensure reasonable recycling fees.
High-value utilization of waste solar panels is currently prioritized at a nationwide processing capacity of 6.5 million tonnes per month, meaning that the remaining 135,000 damaged panels would require 155 days to be cleared out, Miaoli County Environmental Protection Association president Chen Chi-chung (陳祺忠) said.
Panels that are too deformed to be high-value utilized must be crushed or thermally melted, but such processes would generate lots of waste materials that require further control, he said, adding that relevant data should be disclosed.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
Chen also suggested the recycling fees levied on solar panel users should be calibrated to actual processing fees.
As waste panels’ high-value utilization fees range from NT$25 to NT$30 per kilogram, processing 1 kilowatt of waste panels would cost NT$1,953 to NT$2,343, he said.
However, the solar panel recycling fund set up in 2020 levies only NT$1,000 per kilowatt in recycling fees on users, which is payable over a 10-year period and clearly insufficient, Chen said.
Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖), secretary-general of Taiwan Watch Institute, said that concern had been raised over the recycling fee being insufficient when the fund was established, but it was countered by the viewpoint that the fund’s interest accumulated over 20 years would be enough to cover recycling fees in the future.
While the reality five years later is not as optimistic as initially thought, advanced recycling techniques and increased labor costs have driven up waste panel recycling costs, he said, calling on the Energy Administration to increase the rate of recycling.
Changhua Environmental Protection Union researcher Lin Cheng-han (林政翰) said that transportation and manual dismantling would incur fees on top of the recycling fee.
Panels that cannot be high-value utilized would also push up the costs, as their reuse value is relatively low, he said.
If waste management costs become so high that panel users are unwilling to bear them, illegal disposal could ensue, Lin said, urging the government to make the inquiry system of solar panel serial numbers open to the public to allow for greater oversight.
In response, the Resource Circulation Administration said the Ministry of Environment would conduct a comprehensive examination of the waste panel management process along with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to propose a standard operation procedure.
The environment ministry is also planning to amend the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法) to enhance the product liability systems for solar panels and wind turbine blades, it said, adding that the bill is expected to be sent to the legislature for review by the end of this year.
The Energy Administration said the economic ministry would discuss the feasibility of increasing waste panel recycling fees.
Additional reporting by CNA
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