Researcher highlights Outback solar panel threat

A CHARLES Darwin University (CDU) researcher in Alice Springs has warned that urgent action needs to be taken to minimise the environmental threat posed by thousands of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that will be decommissioned in the next few years.

CDU’s Northern Institute Research Fellow Dr Deepika Mathur said, "The End-of-Life Management of Solar PV Panels project was the first attempt to address the waste management issue in remote Australia, where vast distances and the absence of economies of scale added complexity to finding solutions.

“There’s a perception that everything made can be recycled, but it’s just not that easy. Solar panels were not made to be unmade,” Dr Mathur said.

“As the oldest panels are already reaching their end-of-life, there is a critical need to start planning for the dismantling, removal, collection and recycling phases of management.”

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