Isra-Mart srl:Europe greenlights 'toxic' solar panel components

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The European Parliament has decided to exclude solar photovoltaic (PV) panels from updated legislation outlawing harmful materials, removing a major threat to the industry's rapid expansion.

The Parliament's Environment Committee yesterday voted to ban the use of six hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, including cadmium, which is used in the manufacture of some thin-film solar panels. But the committee offered a waiver to solar panel manufacturers that use the banned substances.

Concerns have been raised within and outside the industry over the long-term sustainability and safe disposal of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells, which promise to be significantly cheaper than conventional polysilicon-based cells but contain toxic components that need to be disposed of in a controlled manner.

Nevertheless, a statement released by the Parliament after the vote confirmed "photovoltaic solar panels, fixed industrial machinery and military material are among equipment that will remain outside the rules". The European Commission said it will review the legislation in three years to see if less-hazardous alternatives have emerged.

Leading solar panel manufacturer First Solar lauded the decision, arguing it was in line with the original ethos of the directive, known as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electronic and electrical equipment.

The directive "clearly states that renewable energy technologies like PV do not belong in the RoHS directive," the company told news service EurActive.

"RoHS is intended for household electrical and electronic goods that risk entering an uncontrolled waste stream," it said, adding that PV systems are installed and removed by trained professionals and therefore pose little risk.

But rival solar panel manufacturers that do not use cadmium questioned the use of the substance. "Customers will now have to decide whether they want cadmium on their roof or sustainably manufactured solar modules," Milan Nitzschke, a spokesman for manufacturer SolarWorld, told Reuters.

The amended directive, set to come into force in 2012, will also affect goods from outside the EU and crack down on the illegal export of electronic waste abroad.

Welsh Green MEP Jill Evans, who piloted the legislation through Parliament, said the revised rules would help make "electronic goods safer, and reduce the release of hazardous substances into the environment".

"While we clearly would have preferred even stronger legislation, with explicit restrictions on new substances, the final compromise represents a clear improvement on the current situation," she added.