World’s third-largest solar producer faces rising panel waste threat

India, the world’s third-largest solar power producer, is facing a looming environmental challenge due to the anticipated surge in solar panel waste. With solar energy now accounting for over 20% of the nation’s energy capacity and nearly 2.4 million households adopting solar power, the first generation of panels—mostly installed in the mid-2010s with a 25-year lifespan—are nearing the end of their usability. According to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), solar panel waste in India, estimated at around 100,000 tonnes in 2023, could escalate dramatically to over 11 million tonnes by 2047. This impending waste crisis is compounded by the lack of a dedicated national budget and industrial-scale recycling facilities. Currently, India’s solar panel recycling efforts are rudimentary, often limited to recovering easily accessible materials like aluminum and glass, while valuable and hazardous components such as silver, copper, lead, and cadmium are lost or contaminate the environment.