As South Africa increasingly looks to renewables to help address the country’s chronic energy crisis, independent power producers must ensure they have the right systems in place to dispose of wind and solar energy and associated storage equipment reaching the end of its life cycle.
Patricia Schröder, the spokesperson for the producer responsibility organisation Circular Energy, says it is crucial that plans to increase the country’s use of renewable energy also cover waste management. “Our commitment to sustainability cannot simply focus on how we generate energy but must extend across the entire energy value chain, Schröder explains.
The International Renewable Energy Agency has estimated that globally photovoltaic panels used to generate solar power may create a cumulative 60 to 78 million tons of waste by 2050. IRENA estimates that in South Africa, this number could amount to 1 million tons by that same year.Schröder says producers must use the time at their disposal to consider the best solutions for the future disposal of the equipment they install now.