The federal government has officially put out the feelers to find a suitable partner to “arrange, manage, deliver, and report” on the National Solar Panel Recycling Pilot, the long-awaited first step to establishing what many hope will be a mandatory scheme governing Australia’s solar module waste stream.
The Albanese government in January announced plans to run a $24.7 million pilot program that would establish up to 100 collection sites across the country to deal with the increasingly urgent challenge of dealing with discarded rooftop solar panels, and ultimately household batteries.
The pilot, which aims to collect and recycle up to 250,000 panels over a 12-to-18-month period starting mid-way through this year, is designed to test the feasibility of collection, re-use and recycling of solar panels from a range of sources, to inform the creation of a national stewardship scheme.
On Thursday, the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said an “Approach to Market” (ATM) procurement process was now open to engage a pilot administrator, who will report to the Department on its findings and outcomes.
“The pilot administrator, chosen through an open procurement process, will manage the pilot,” the notice says.
“They will contract suitable collection and recycling service providers. The administrator will pay these providers for collection and recycling services depending on their location. This is only available to selected locations in the national pilot.
“The pilot administrator will invite businesses across the solar panel supply chain to take part. They will arrange the transportation of panels from collection sites to recycling facilities.
“The pilot will recycle panels from homes and businesses, plus a few from solar farms. This variety gives us strong evidence for any future product stewardship scheme.”
The ultimate goal is to generate robust, real-world data on collection and recycling costs and performance, while also assessing industry readiness and establishing key frameworks.
Currently, only 17 per cent of Australia’s discarded rooftop solar panels are recycled, with many going to landfill while an alarming number are suspected to be sitting in suburban back yards, in the proverbial too-hard basket.
For the better part of the past decade, the Smart Energy Council has been working hard behind the scenes on its own recycling pilots and, at even presented the former federal Coalition government with a comprehensive proposal for a national stewardship scheme.
As thousands of older residential and commercial rooftop solar systems around the country are upgraded – and as the market for exporting used, but still functioning panels, runs dry – the need for a national approach to circularity has gone beyond urgent.
And it’s not just a matter of sustainable waste management, but crucial resource recovery.
Darren Johannesen, the head of sustainability at the SEC and one of the key figures in a dedicated team pushing for a mandatory national scheme, says recycling, or “urban mining”, can help address forecasts of supply shortfalls in key materials such as copper.
“Implementing a national stewardship scheme, which we hope and expect will follow the pilot, will trigger an urban-mining boom, and a new wave of smart energy investment in jobs and growth,” Johannesen said in January.
DCCEEW’s ATM process for the National Solar Panel Recycling Pilot will include an industry briefing, on April 09 – interested parties can request to attend the briefing by email. The tender is open through AusTender, here. Pilot administrator proposals must be submitted by close of business, Friday April 24.
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Sophie Vorrath
Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
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