In June, U.S. photo voltaic producer Qcells grew to become the second firm on this planet to register its photo voltaic panels with EPEAT, a labeling system that units sustainability requirements for electronics makers. By doing so, the corporate triggered an obscure regulation that requires federal companies to buy EPEAT-certified photo voltaic panels. If, say, NASA needs to construct a photo voltaic farm to energy a analysis facility, it should now buy panels that meet EPEAT’s strict sustainability necessities — together with a first-of-its-kind restrict on the carbon emissions tied to photo voltaic manufacturing.
There’s only one downside: Though EPEAT launched its photo voltaic requirements in 2019, as of right now, there are solely six EPEAT-registered photo voltaic panels on the worldwide market. And there are at the moment no EPEAT-registered photo voltaic inverters, gadgets that convert the direct present electrical energy a photo voltaic panel produces to alternating present electrical energy, which the grid makes use of. That doesn’t go away a variety of selections for the federal authorities, or anybody else who needs to buy sustainably-produced photo voltaic tools.
That’s why, in October, the Division of Power, or DOE, launched a brand new prize that gives as much as $450,000 to U.S.-based photo voltaic panel and inverter producers that obtain EPEAT certification for his or her merchandise. As a brand new wave of home photo voltaic manufacturing kicks into excessive gear, the DOE hopes the prize will make sure that corporations use environment friendly processes, sustainable supplies, honest labor practices, and low-carbon power.
“The very fact of the matter is, not all photo voltaic [products] of their manufacturing are created equal,” mentioned Patty Dillon, a vp on the World Electronics Council, the sustainable know-how nonprofit that manages the EPEAT ecolabel.
Photo voltaic panels convert the solar’s rays into electrical energy in a course of that emits no greenhouse gases, which makes them important for combating local weather change. To realize net-zero emissions by 2050, the Worldwide Power Company estimates that the world should add 630 gigawatts of recent solar energy yearly by 2030 — up from the 135 gigawatts put in in 2020.
However some photo voltaic panels are extra climate-friendly than others. Polysilicon, which is used to make the sunlight-harvesting cells inside silicon panels, is made utilizing an energy-intensive course of usually powered by fossil fuels. The frames that maintain photo voltaic panels collectively are product of aluminum, which is often smelted in China utilizing coal-powered electrical energy. The manufacturing processes that flip these supplies right into a photo voltaic panel additionally require power, which may result in extra emissions. On a worldwide stage, the distinction between photo voltaic panels manufactured utilizing clear power and people made with fossil fuels may quantity to tens of billions of metric tons of carbon air pollution by the center of the twenty first century.
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To reduce these emissions, together with different environmental challenges like using poisonous chemical substances and the disposal of photo voltaic e-waste, corporations should take a tough take a look at their provide chains and, in some instances, have interaction in troublesome clean-up work. The DOE’s new prize, “Selling Registration of Inverters and Modules with Ecolabel,” or PRIME, encourages corporations to take action by going by way of the EPEAT registration course of.
“EPEAT certification permits corporations to point out how they’ve been taking the steps to have extra environmentally pleasant provide chains and manufacturing processes,” Becca Jones-Albertus, who directs the DOE’s photo voltaic power applied sciences workplace, advised Grist.
Photo voltaic corporations looking for EPEAT registration should meet a checklist of standards that span 4 broad themes: local weather change, sustainable useful resource use, hazardous chemical substances, and accountable provide chains. Relying on what number of requirements a producer meets, it might probably obtain an EPEAT Bronze, Silver, or Gold designation.
As well as, as of June, photo voltaic producers registered with EPEAT are required to fulfill the business’s first-ever standards for embodied carbon, the emissions generated when a product is produced. For every kilowatt of energy produced, not more than 630 kilograms of CO2 may be emitted through the manufacturing of an EPEAT-registered photo voltaic panel. The restrict, Dillon says, represents about 25 % fewer carbon emissions than the worldwide common. Photo voltaic panels that fall under the “extremely low carbon” threshold of 400 kilograms of CO2 per kilowatt of energy earn a particular EPEAT Local weather+ designation.
“That principally represents the most effective in school,” Dillon mentioned.
It’s troublesome to make a direct comparability to fossil gas vegetation, since most of their emissions come from operations fairly than constructing infrastructure. However different analysis has discovered that over their lifespan, photo voltaic vegetation are significantly extra local weather pleasant, emitting roughly 50 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of power produced in contrast with about 1,000 grams per kilowatt-hour for coal.
Assembly EPEAT’s necessities isn’t straightforward, which could clarify why there are solely two corporations — QCells and the Arizona-based First Photo voltaic — at the moment listed on the registry. And solely two photo voltaic panels manufactured by First Photo voltaic have earned the ecolabel’s Local weather+ badge. QCells, which manufactures two EPEAT-registered panels at a manufacturing unit in Dalton, Georgia, spent about two years going by way of a “very in depth” certification course of that concerned amassing knowledge throughout its provide chain and submitting to a third-party audit, company communications lead Debra DeShong advised Grist.
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“It’s not a straightforward activity,” DeShong mentioned. “It requires assets and it requires a will.”
Different corporations might now be motivated to strive. QCells’ additions to the EPEAT registry in June activated the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which requires the federal authorities to buy items that meet requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Safety Company, besides in restricted circumstances the place it’s impractical to take action. Within the case of photo voltaic panels, which means EPEAT-registered merchandise. The DOE’s PRIME Prize, which gives U.S. photo voltaic producers $50,000 for beginning the registration course of and as much as $100,000 per product for as much as 4 merchandise that full it, gives extra incentive. Jones-Albertus advised Grist that the prize was designed to “roughly offset the price of amassing all the information and shifting by way of the registration course of.”
Photo voltaic corporations “advised us that they’re thinking about EPEAT certification, however they haven’t gotten there but,” Jones-Albertus mentioned. “We’re hoping to supply incentives in order that corporations undergo the EPEAT registration course of sooner.”
Corporations peering deep into their provide chains for the primary time would possibly uncover they should make some modifications to fulfill EPEAT registration necessities. To slim down the carbon footprint of its panels, a photo voltaic producer might need to change to a low-carbon polysilicon provider. (QCells, as an illustration, is buying polysilicon from a facility in Washington state that produces the stuff utilizing hydropower.) Or it’d resolve to swap out virgin aluminum frames manufactured abroad for recycled metal ones constructed domestically by Origami Photo voltaic, a change that may scale back carbon emissions tied to the body by upwards of 90 %. To fulfill EPEAT’s non-compulsory recycled content material standards, a producer may resolve to begin buying recycled panel glass from an organization like SolarCycle.
Making these kinds of producing provide chain alterations takes money and time past what the brand new DOE prize will present. However Dillon, of the World Electronics Council, is optimistic that extra corporations will begin registering their merchandise with EPEAT now that federal purchasers require it.
Erik Petersen, the chief technique officer at Origami Photo voltaic, believes the Biden administration’s push for clear home manufacturing, mixed with rising shopper curiosity in provide chain transparency, will spur extra U.S. photo voltaic corporations to make sure their merchandise meet excessive sustainability requirements.
“What’s thrilling is all of those forces are coming collectively on the similar time,” Petersen advised Grist. “That actually provides the business an incentive to do the appropriate issues.”
