World's First Solar Module Produced From Recycled Material

Trinasolar's Research Centre Academy has achieved a breakthrough in solar module production with a recycling technology that uses materials such as silicon, silver, aluminium frames and glass from old modules. Trinasolar is thus continuing on its path towards greater sustainability.

The production of what the company claims to be the world's first PV module made entirely from recycled material was led by Trinasolar and carried out in collaboration with partners in the upstream and downstream value chain. As part of this project, the PV manufacturer has implemented a complete recycling process of all components and high-quality materials from end-of-life PV modules. 

This was achieved by utilising several new techniques. These include the use of chemicals developed in-house for the selective processing of layer structures, chemical etching processes and the wet-chemical extraction of silver. The resulting PV module in a golden-size design uses n-type TOPCon technology and has a module efficiency of 20.7 per cent and an output of over 645 W. 

Commitment to greater sustainability

Trinasolar is strongly committed to developing innovative technological solutions for the recovery and recycling of end-of-life PV modules. The company not only fulfils international standards such as the European Union Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), but also goes beyond this by developing its own technologies. Trinasolar has registered 37 patents in the field of module recycling alone. 

In addition, Trinasolar is constantly striving to minimise the environmental impact of its production processes. The company has been a member of PV Cycle since 2010 and has developed several compliant disposal methods for end-of-life PV modules to reduce its environmental impact.

Its breakthrough in module recycling technology not only provides a key solution for decommissioning large quantities of PV modules, but is also an example of what is possible in the PV industry.