End-of-life management of solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems: A stakeholder survey in Australia

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. In this study, a preliminary list of drivers, barriers, and enablers to end-of-life management of photovoltaic panels and battery energy storage systems obtained from a systematic literature review was firstly evaluated and then expanded through an iterative expert review process. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was administered in Australia to elicit stakeholder perceptions on each driver, barrier, and enabler factor. A total of 57 complete responses was obtained. A two-step cluster analysis was performed to compare the perceived drivers, barriers, and enablers between four stakeholder categories including research/education institutions, product stewardship arrangement (PSA) parties, governments, and consultants. Findings indicated that there is a high degree of agreement among stakeholders on various drivers, barriers, and enablers; however, some factors exhibited differences. It appeared that all stakeholders were driven to address triple bottom line issues, however, research/education institutions put more emphasis on the economic and environmental drivers. Stakeholders reported the lack of profitability, unavailability of regulations and incentives, as well as a lack of awareness of safe disposal options, as being the most significant barriers. Only government respondents recognised the current lack of on-shore recycling infrastructures as a critical barrier. Introducing a product stewardship scheme, implementing business models for collection, economic incentives, as well as developing recycling technologies and infrastructures were regarded as the most important enablers. Policy and practice implications and recommendations were also discussed in this study.