Post-Photovoltaic Boom: Slovakia Faces Surge in Solar Panel Waste

While the numbers are still relatively small, the latest statistics on electrical waste for 2024 reveal a substantial jump in the photovoltaic segment. The quantity of decommissioned solar panels in Slovakia increased by 120% last year.

Previously, only a few dozen tons of old PV panels were collected annually in Slovakia, typically those damaged by events like storms. However, the country is now beginning to see a larger-scale decommissioning of solar panels installed around 2010, when Slovakia experienced its first major PV boom.

Discarded Solar Panels are Electrical Waste

According to MŽP SR data, Slovakia generated 70 tons of photovoltaic waste in 2022. This amount approximately doubled to 134 tons in 2023. For 2024, the Ministry's latest statistics report 294 tons.

Experts have been warning for years that the PV segment of electrical waste in Slovakia, as in many other countries, is poised for exponential growth. Market signals suggest that the increase in the current year, 2025, will be even more pronounced.

"To give you an example from our experience: last year, we collected and recycled approximately four tons of photovoltaic panels, but this year we estimate that it will be a hundred times more. Photovoltaic panels will constitute a significant commodity in the near future, as will heat pumps," explained the director of the producer responsibility organization (OZV) SEWA, authorized for electrical waste, in an interview with Odpady-portal.sk.

He added that this trend is due to panels reaching the end of their lifespan, which started around 2010, and also to the current "re-powering" policy that extends support for about 400 PV power plants, leading some operators to replace parts of their technology.

Frameless Panels Pose a Recycling Challenge

Currently, recycling capacities for old PV panels are insufficient for the anticipated volumes of waste. Previously, there simply wasn't much to recycle. "For new technologies to emerge and for this to become a mass phenomenon, you need volume. That volume wasn't there until now," J. Kozák continued.

A particular challenge for recycling, he notes, are so-called frameless solar panels. Conversely, finding a recycler for framed panels is much simpler.

Another practical problem is that many panels entered the market in the past without anyone paying the so-called recycling fee. Under the system of "extended producer responsibility," this obligation was only incorporated into the waste act in 2016. Consequently, there may not be sufficient resources in the system now.

"No one ever paid for the historical panels. We provide recycling services for our clients, but there are thousands of panels that were placed on the market for which no one paid the recycling fee, and the companies that introduced them to the market may not even exist today," warns J. Kozák.

Not Everyone Pays the Recycling Fee

Ronald Blaho, head of ASEKOL SK, another major OZV authorized for electrical waste, shares a similar perspective. He clarified the situation in this segment in an interview back in 2022, since which hundreds of megawatts of new installed capacity, primarily rooftop PV systems, have been added in Slovakia.

According to his rough estimate, a PV installation with 1 MW of installed capacity represents approximately 100 to 130 tons of photovoltaic waste. The MŽP SR statistics therefore also suggest that the problem of "free-riding," or some producers ignoring their extended responsibility, has not disappeared.

According to data from distribution companies, about 280 MW of new power sources were connected in Slovakia last year, almost entirely consisting of new PV panels. If one megawatt of installed capacity represents around 100 tons, this would amount to approximately 28,000 tons of panels.

On the other hand, MŽP SR statistics report a weight of around 6,000 tons placed on the market. This figure represents PV panels "placed on the market," meaning those panels sold in Slovakia last year for which the recycling fee was paid to one of the producer responsibility organizations.

"From an economic perspective, the recycling of photovoltaic panels is not self-sustaining. Similar to televisions or refrigerators, the process needs to be subsidized. It's not like IT equipment, computers, laptops, or mobile phones, which contain enough valuable components to make recycling pay for itself," explained R. Blaho.

"The responsibility for future photovoltaic electrical waste will therefore rest on the shoulders of solar park operators. They should be prepared to pay for panel recycling themselves one day, once they decide to cease production or replace part of the technology with new panels," the head of ASEKOL SK concluded in an earlier interview.

Source: www.energie-portal.sk