Across Australia, growing volumes of solar panels are reaching the end of their first life. In most of the cases, these panels are either sent to landfill or shipped offshore. Panels sent overseas are not tested for safety or performance, raising concerns that we may be sending  waste or even hazardous materials to developing countries.

 

The R2 Project tackles this challenge by focusing on two key strategies:

• Reduce – encouraging the procurement of higher-quality, longer-lasting panels from the outset.

• Reuse – giving older panels a second life through careful refurbishment and testing.

 

In order to assess the suitability of reused panels for continued use, we have developed an outdoor monitoring station to expose refurbished panels to real world conditions. This website provides regular, public-facing, performance reporting of the output of the refurbished panels.

 

Acknowledgements

 

With assistance from the ACT Government under the Renewable Energy Innovation Fund.

 

Based [in part] on data obtained through SPOTS, Solar PV Outdoor Testing System at Australian National University. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which SPOTS operates, the Ngunnawal people, and pay our respects to elders past and present.