Damaged Solar Panels from Hail Storm Will Likely End Up in Landfill Because Recycling Isn't Possible
A new report said that many solar panels damaged in a hail storm last month will likely end up in landfills.
Although some panels at the Scottsbluff Community Solar project in Nebraska will be usable, many will be too badly damaged, according to Cowboy State Daily.
According to CBS, more than 90 percent of panels are dumped in landfills when they are damaged, defective or reach the end of their usefulness. As of 2030, CBS said the panels will take up about 3,000 football fields worth of landfill space.
Solar panels destroyed by large hail north of Scottsbluff, Nebraska last night. #newx Photo Courtesy Matt Larsen #hail pic.twitter.com/2ND7BHmYlB
— Daryl Orr (@WxWyDaryl) June 27, 2023
In late June, a thunderstorm dumped baseball-sized hail on a solar farm, with the large stones traveling at a speed of 150 mph. The facility was destroyed in just a few minutes.
Cowboy State Daily reported a storm moved east out of Wyoming where it wreaked havoc just across the state line on a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer told Cowboy State Daily, “Just by looking at it, it looks destroyed to me.”
Writing for the outlet, Kevin Killough reported, “The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, sparing an odd panel like missing teeth in a white smile.”
Solar panels cannot be recycled, nor can they be sent to landfill. Due to cadmium, lead, arsenic etc used in construction they are classed as hazardous waste. The compounds can leach into ground water & consequently have to be treated in a similar way to nuclear waste.
— david carey (@davidca73672059) July 9, 2023
Grant Otten, spokesman for the Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the solar farm, said decisions have not been finalized, according to Cowboy State Daily.
“They’re still working through that process,” he said.
The report said recycling is not often a viable option for damaged or discarded solar panels.
“A solar panel has very little mineral content relative to the volume of the panel,” said B.F. Randall, who has written on Substack questioning the premise of recycling materials from the panels.
“So, it’s just not something that can be recycled in that sense,” he said.
By the year 2050, if man is still alive, we will need to dispose of about 78 million tons of solar panels including 6 million tons of environmentally damaging photovoltaic waste. All in landfill… https://t.co/WtEw0g3kGY
— WitchEnd (@witchendaswas) July 7, 2023
“Polysilicon … can’t ever be recycled back into polysilicon. If it’s fake cycled into sand it would be absolutely toxic,” Randall said.
Randall wrote in his Substack article that at best, panels have $6 worth of silver if it could be refined. However, he said, that’s not possible.
“You can’t recover the silver. It doesn’t work that way,” he said.
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