The study — which attempted to estimated the raw tonnage of solar panels set to hit landfills in coming years — warned that if the solar industry doesn’t get a handle on its trash problem, “we may soon face the dark side of renewable energy.”
While hydroelectricity remains by far Canada’s largest source of renewable energy, solar capacity has skyrocketed in recent years. Driven in large part by government incentives, at the end of 2019 Canada had 3,310 MW of solar panels as compared to just 221 MW in 2010 — an increase of 1,500 per cent. If the sun is shining, all those panels technically have a capacity matching that of Ontario’s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.
However, solar panels have a short lifespan and are particularly ill-suited for recycling. They contain very few materials worth recovering, and as bulky sheets of glass, they’re expensive to transport to a recycling facility.
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