Mumbai, Aug. 3 -- IRENA projected that India will generate a rapidly growing volume of end of life solar photovoltaic panels under its 1.5degC scenario, with cumulative waste exceeding half a million t by 2035. The agency projected the cumulative weight to cross one mn t by 2037 and to surpass two point three mn t by 2040. By 2050 India was forecast to be the fourth largest generator of end of life solar panels after China, the European Union and the United States. Around eighty five per cent of India's cumulative solar PV waste by 2050 was expected between 2041 and 2050, showing a steep rise during that decade.
The findings placed the issue in the context of rapid global deployment, noting that solar PV accounted for forty six per cent of global installed renewable capacity by the end of 2025 and for seventy four per cent of new renewable additions that year. IRENA set out projections for installed capacity to grow from 2,383 GW in 2025 to more than 5 TW by 2030 and to exceed 18 TW by 2050, supplying nearly half of the renewable capacity required by mid century. It noted that more than ninety per cent of global installed solar PV capacity had been deployed in the past decade and that most systems still had around twenty years of operational life remaining.
As deployment accelerates, so will the volume of end of life panels, with the global cumulative weight projected to exceed 200 mn t by 2050 and annual waste to surpass 25 mn t. Several leading markets including China, the European Union, India and the United States were expected to generate more than one mn t of solar PV waste annually by 2043. IRENA estimated that China would contribute twenty nine per cent of cumulative global waste, the European Union twelve per cent, the United States eleven per cent and India nine per cent, with these markets together accounting for more than sixty per cent by mid century.
The report also highlighted off grid expansion and existing stocks, stating that global off grid solar PV capacity reached approximately 4.1 GW by the end of 2024, with around half used for agriculture and mini grids. The total weight of panels in off grid lights and home systems exceeded 22,700 t in 2024, around seventy seven per cent of these panels were in Africa and about fifteen per cent in developing Asia. India accounted for around ninety per cent of agricultural solar pumps deployed globally, while Indonesia hosted around two thirds of global solar mini grids. Under the 1.5degC scenario IRENA projected the global cumulative weight of end of life solar PV panels to increase sixteen fold between 2035 and 2050.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.