International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

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Volume 15 Number 5 (2024)

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IJESD 2024 Vol.15(5): 240-249
doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2024.15.5.1492

Circular Solutions: Assessing the Viability of Photovoltaic Waste Recycling in the United Kingdom

Dharmesh Ganpatsinh Parmar1, Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki,*, Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar2, Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud3, and Mohd Khairul Amri Kamarudin4
1School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
2Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Section, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia
3Department of Electrical Engineering, Jubail Industrial College, Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia
4Faculty of Applied Social Science, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia
Email: dharmeshparmar002@gmail.com (D.G.P.); f.muhammadsukki@napier.ac.uk (F.M.-S.); sitihawa@unikl.edu.my (S.H.A.-B.); masud_a@jic.edu.sa (A.A.M.); mkhairulamri@unisza.edu.my (M.K.A.K)
*Corresponding author
Manuscript received June 11, 2024; revised July 18, 2024; accepted August 1, 2024; published September 26, 2024

Abstract—The demand for the generation of energy using photovoltaics (PV) has risen exponentially in recent times all over the world. The United Kingdom (UK) has also made a rapid increase in PV installations and is implementing more developing plans in the future as it is focusing on generating significant amount of electricity using photovoltaics. These PV installations will become waste in future. Hence, it is important to plan the end-of-life management of PV waste. This paper gives an insight into the current and future scenarios of PV waste recycling in the UK with literature reviews, discussions on recycling methods and cost benefit analysis. It shows a projection of PV waste in future, by exploring the installation of a recycling facility based on Full Recovery End of Life Photovoltaic (FRELP) method of recycling in Cornwall, UK. From the analysis, it was calculated that the recycling facility could generate total yearly revenue of £5,852,745.80 approximately with a profit of £92,435.14.

Keywords—photovoltaic, photovoltaic waste, cost-benefit analysis

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Cite: Dharmesh Ganpatsinh Parmar, Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki, Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar, Abdullahi Abubakar Mas'ud, and Mohd Khairul Amri Kamarudin, "Circular Solutions: Assessing the Viability of Photovoltaic Waste Recycling in the United Kingdom," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 240-249, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).