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Where Do All the Old Solar Panels Go?: Business Casual

Solar panels have long been the figurehead of the sustainability movement. They are the celebrities of being “off-grid,” representing everything it means to building a lifestyle in harmony with the earth. But how earth-friendly are solar panels? Powered by RedCircle Millions of tonnes of solar panels hit landfills each year, and that number is only…

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Where Do All the Old Solar Panels Go?: Business Casual

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Solar panels have long been the figurehead of the sustainability movement. They are the celebrities of being “off-grid,” representing everything it means to building a lifestyle in harmony with the earth. But how earth-friendly are solar panels?

Powered by RedCircle

Millions of tonnes of solar panels hit landfills each year, and that number is only expected to grow. Though the state of Washington and parts of Europe encourage manufacturers to handle recycling their panels, the makeup of panels does not make dismantling them so easy. Business Casual hosts Daniel Litwin and Tyler Kern uncover the hidden costs of solar panels, including their short life span and challenging recycling process. The two query, “What are the long term impacts of pursuing this renewable energy?”

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UK storage support scheme could cut battery project returns by up to 2.7 points

UK storage support scheme could cut battery project returns by up to 2.7 points

LCP Delta estimates the UK long-duration storage cap-and-floor could cut battery project returns by 2.7 percentage points against a no-new-storage baseline, Energy-Storage.news reported. Against its central scenario, the hit is only 0.5 points. Italy's MACSE round two on 24 November and Germany's 23GWh residential VPP rules show the same pattern: policy design sets storage returns.

  • 01The question for any UK battery revenue case is now which baseline it assumed: LCP Delta's estimated hit ranges from 0.5 to 2.7 IRR points depending on whether significant long-duration storage was already modelled.
  • 02Germany's new virtual power plant rules turn its residential battery base into what Energy-Storage.news describes as a 23GWh grid asset, and the outlet says the distinction between residential and grid-scale storage is now less obvious.

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DNV forecasts about half of new solar installations will include battery storage by the mid-2030s, up from roughly 6.6% today. Its GreenPowerMonitor unit is expanding hybrid energy management software to match. For solar operators, controls and cybersecurity now sit on the critical path.

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Bestway Cement now gets over a quarter of its plant power from solar

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