California to Experience the Dark Side of Solar Power

California started encouraging solar panels about 20 years ago, and now they have a problem: namely, the life expectancy of solar panels back then was about 25-30 years. They now have a huge waste disposal problem, with no plan to solve it.

California went big on rooftop solar. Now that's a problem for landfills

In his defense, Darth Moonbeam was out of his mind. There is a little time before the s#!t hits the fan, but not much. A major waste disposal/recycling facility would take several years to build (in that state, the environmental permits can take years to secure).

 

What percentage of U.S. CRT's get recycled in the U.S.? We send our old electronics to places like Bangladesh and Cambodia. Separating glass, plastics, and valuable metals is extremely labor-intensive. The federal government is the only organization that could afford to pay Americans to do recycling of solar panels.

Obviously, recycling can also be done with a complex mechanical/chemical process (as is mentioned in the article), but it is fairly expensive, creates hazardous wastes, and is a fairly hazardous process to work around. The facility is mostly likely getting government assistance to stay afloat.

I actually think that the solar panels should be re-used if they have more than 25% of their output capacity remaining in them. Obviously, homeowners are ditching solar panels when the output gets down to 40-60%, because they have limited space for solar panels and want more output (or it is time to replace their roof). But what about large solar farms in the middle of nowhere? Why couldn't they have a section for used solar panels with an output of 20-60%? The panels would be free, saving them money. And the life of the solar panels would be extended another 15 years or so. There would still be a disposal/recycling issue at the end of life, but there would be more time to develop recycling methods, funding and infrastructure. Farmers have plenty of acreage--the ones that do not have wind power might appreciate almost free solar power. Small farming towns could set up a solar farm and make use of these solar panels. When the panels finally do stop working, send them off to be recycled and bring in more re-usable panels. Within a few years, there will be a nearly endless supply.

 

Looks like California is going to start experiencing the bright side of solar power. They are going to install solar power systems over the top of their canals to generate electricity while minimizing evaporation of water from the canals.

This state is using a revolutionary solution to protect itself from droughts — and the results could be staggering

 

I'm not endorsing the practice. Just recognizing that we live in a throw-away society that does not believe in paying the costs to do something correctly up front. We create a disaster, and then pay ten times as much to clean it up. Lately, we've been sending our trash to other countries because they are so dirt poor that they are willing to put in the effort to make a few pennies for their time. We pretend we are sending a "product" to them.

 

I'm not an electrical engineer, so I don't know enough about how they work to comment on the details. But if they still have some life left in them, it makes sense to make some use of them. If they have to be sorted by manufacturer or type before their second life, then so be it. A farmer might get more value from aging solar panels than from crops.

 

Regarding the installation of solar panels above canals, the only thing I hope they have considered is the risk of corrosion on the structure holding up the solar panels. I'm sure the last thing they want is for the structure to collapse and heavy metals leach out from the solar panels into the canals. The metallurgy that usually works well in marine service is titanium, which is generally not cheap. It is fairly strong, so I suppose you could make the structure relatively thin compared to what you would do with a steel.