Life-cycle assessment of a photovoltaic panel: Assessment of energy intensity of production and environmental impacts

Abstract

A number of articles have already been published on energy recovery from the sun using solar panels and their environmental impacts. However, in this article, we assess the impact of solar panel technology, and use separately obtained data based on the disassembly of a specific photovoltaic panel into discrete parts. The aim of this article is to list all the environmental impacts of this panel per unit of energy produced and at the same time to focus primarily on deciphering the energy intensity of individual phases of the life cycle of photovoltaic panel production. An analytical method of Life-cycle assessment using the environmental software version SimaPro 9.0.049 with an integrated Ecoinvent 3 database was used to determine the environmental impacts. Throughout the work, we focus on the data obtained, which shows that the process of photovoltaic panel production itself is very energy-intensive, especially in the phase of photovoltaic cell production and solar glass production. In other phases, which is the production of individual parts of the photovoltaic panel, its use, and subsequent recycling, they do not contribute so much to the overall energy balance. In the environmental impact assessment, the most affected aspects were human health, followed by climatic change, resources, and the ecosystem quality came last. In all four of the above categories, the influence of the photovoltaic cell production phase was determined to be dominant.

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“… Life cycle–associated issues — Similar to the wind turbine, the solar panel is most active for 25 to 30 years; however, suboptimal performances might still be afforded thereafter. As observed with wind turbines, the production of PV cells is still heavily invested in non-renewable fossil fuel sources; about 73.90% is demanded therein (Vácha et al 2021 ), albeit having a strikingly low energy performance when compared to non-renewable fossil fuels or even renewable biomass and hydropower. Moreover, its environmental impacts have been immensely felt, primarily on human health (35.00%) and then climate change (19.90%), resources (19.01%) and ecosystem quality (4.68%) (Vácha et al 2021 ).…”

“…As observed with wind turbines, the production of PV cells is still heavily invested in non-renewable fossil fuel sources; about 73.90% is demanded therein (Vácha et al 2021 ), albeit having a strikingly low energy performance when compared to non-renewable fossil fuels or even renewable biomass and hydropower. Moreover, its environmental impacts have been immensely felt, primarily on human health (35.00%) and then climate change (19.90%), resources (19.01%) and ecosystem quality (4.68%) (Vácha et al 2021 ). Resources used are attributed to not only the panels but also the battery systems and inverters used to store excess solar energy as chemical energy and DC to AC conversions, respectively.…”

Residential Prosumer Energy Management System with Renewable Integration Considering Multi-Energy Storage and Demand Response

“…The EPBT has gained popularity as a commonly utilized parameter, owing to its easily interpretable input-output format. Its calculation method is simplified and can be expressed as follows [61,62]: EPBT = (Total primary energy demand) (Annual energy production) .…”

Characterization, traceability, and uncertainty estimation of reference solar panel module measurements using pulsed solar simulators and reference solar cells

“…They contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. However, it is worth mentioning that the manufacturing process of solar panels does have some environmental impacts, such as the energy and resource requirements for production and the management of waste materials [5]- [7].…”