Solar Power Europe Revises Battery Regulation For PV Manufacturers

Solar Power Europe Revised Battery Regulation For PV Manufacturers

‘Solar Power Europe‘, a European industry body for solar, released a report, ‘Solar Power Europe End-Of Life Guidelines”. The report shared an outlook to modernize the EU legislative framework for batteries and accumulators. This ‘Battery Regulation’ is estimated to repeal ‘Battery Directive’, which was proposed for discussion and published for consultation in December 2020.

It estimated, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, the Battery Directive (soon to be replaced by an updated Battery Regulation), the Waste Framework Directive (WFD), Ecodesign Regulations, and the Packaging Directive.

The guideline mentioned “Contrary to a directive, which were to be transposed into national laws, a regulation has direct effect and enters into force on a set date in all the Member States. Beginning in June 2023, the European Battery Regulation is expected to gradually replace Directive 2006/66/EC”.

It estimated to be implemented in all EU member states simultaneously for the common purpose of minimizing the harmful effects of batteries on the environment. it claims to be the first time, the guidelines to cover the new requirements and the entire lithium battery life cycle (from extraction of the raw material to production, design, labelling, traceability, collection, recycling and re-use). Batteries is to be divided into the following groups, depending on the application for which they are designed.

The Regulation Guidelines Introduced New Minimum Recycling Efficiencies

No later than 31 December 2025

• 75% by average weight of lead-acid batteries.
• 65% by average weight of lithium-based batteries.
• 80% by average weight of nickel-cadmium batteries.
• 50% by average weight of other waste batteries. The recycling efficiency refers to the percentage of the entire battery that is recycled.

The guideline’s stated, “Recycling is calculated on the basis of the overall chemical composition (at elemental/compound level) of the input and output fractions. ‘Input fraction’ refers to the components of the battery entering the recycling process and ‘output fraction’ refers to the components that are produced from the input fraction as a result of the recycling process.

No later than 31 December 2030

• 80% by average weight of lead-acid batteries.
• 70% by average weight of lithium-based batteries. A new requirement related to a minimum recovery level of specific materials in the recycling process is also introduced:

By 31 December 2027

• 90% of cobalt, copper, lead, nickel and 50% of lithium is estimated to be recovered.
• By 31 December 2031 • 95% of cobalt, copper, lead, nickel and 80% of lithium shall be recovered.

Recycled content 60 months after entry into force of the Regulation or 24 months after the entry into force of the delegated act establishing the methodology for the calculation and verification of the share of recycled metals, whichever is later, industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh, except those with exclusively external storage, that contain cobalt, lead, lithium or nickel in active materials is expected to be accompanied by technical documentation containing information about the share of metals recovered from waste.

Recycling challenges

It found, “Over the past two decades, the production of solar panels has witnessed a remarkable surge. As these panels near their End-of-Life (EoL), an waste management challenge has emerged. It is projected that PV waste can account for a substantial portion, ranging from 4% to 14% of the total electricity generation capacity by 2030 and could reach 60 to 80 million tons by 2050. This poses serious questions about whether current recycling technologies can be advanced enough to deal with PV panels, and whether they exist at the scale required to absorb these new waste streams.”

It explained, “There are three primary PV recycling processes: mechanical, chemical, and thermal. However, a common drawback of most recycling methods is that they generate secondary raw materials with reduced purity and integrity compared to the original components used in PV manufacturing. This is particularly true for solar glass. The recovery of silicon, a crucial material in PV solar panels, is of strategic importance due to the stringent purity requirements for solar-grade silicon.”

It suggested, ‘The process of refining metallurgical-grade silicon into solar-grade silicon is resource- and energy-intensive, imposing both economic and environmental costs. Notably, silver stands out as one of the most valuable materials in PV panels, constituting 42% of their theoretical value. Glass is the heaviest component in PV panels by far and represents the largest fraction by weight among all components. Lastly, encapsulant materials composed of non-recycled polymers, often derived from fossil sources, can have a significant negative environmental impact. They are challenging to recycle due the low maturity of the current processing methods.’