Assessing the Environmental Benefits of Extending the Service Lifetime of Solar Photovoltaic Modules.

Requiring no fuel for generation and negligible material/energy for operation and maintenance, photovoltaic (PV) systems have environmental impacts mostly due to the production of modules and the commissioning of power plants. Thus, extending the service lifetime of these systems from 30 to 40 years through an enhanced lamination process for module production potentially reduces environmental impacts per unit energy generated. Life cycle assessment is employed to evaluate the environmental impacts under scenarios for resource utilizations for the new lamination process, operation and maintenance requirements in the extended service lifetime, and degradation rates of the devised modules. Extending the service lifetime significantly reduces environmental impacts across categories, with a 21-27% reduction in global warming potential on the pessimistic and optimistic ends. At least 20% impact reduction is achieved in most impact categories, even under a pessimistic scenario. Considering uncertainty models in the life cycle inventories, samples are generated for scenarios via Monte Carlo simulation, and with significant improvements with large effects in most environmental impact categories, deterministic impact comparisons are supported by ANOVA and Tukey tests. Production strategies for more durable and reliable PV modules have a significant potential in contributing to global sustainability efforts.

Paç AB ，Gok A 《GLOBAL CHALLENGES》

Comprehensive review of environmental factors influencing the performance of photovoltaic panels: Concern over emissions at various phases throughout the lifecycle.

Recently, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has shown tremendous growth among all renewable energy sectors. The attractiveness of a PV system depends deeply of the module and it is primarily determined by its performance. The quantity of electricity and power generated by a PV cell is contingent upon a number of parameters that can be intrinsic to the PV system itself, external or environmental. Thus, to improve the PV panel performance and lifetime, it is crucial to recognize the main parameters that directly influence the module during its operational lifetime. Among these parameters there are numerous factors that positively impact a PV system including the temperature of the solar panel, humidity, wind speed, amount of light, altitude and barometric pressure. On the other hand, the module can be exposed to simultaneous environmental stresses such as dust accumulation, shading and pollution factors. All these factors can gradually decrease the performance of the PV panel. This review not only provides the factors impacting PV panel's performance but also discusses the degradation and failure parameters that can usually affect the PV technology. The major points include: 1) Total quantity of energy extracted from a photovoltaic module is impacted on a daily, quarterly, seasonal, and yearly scale by the amount of dust formed on the surface of the module. 2) Climatic conditions as high temperatures and relative humidity affect the operation of solar cells by more than 70% and lead to a considerable decrease in solar cells efficiency. 3) The PV module current can be affected by soft shading while the voltage does not vary. In the case of hard shadowing, the performance of the photovoltaic module is determined by whether some or all of the cells of the module are shaded. 4) Compared to more traditional forms of energy production, PV systems offer a significant number of advantages to the environment. Nevertheless, these systems can procure greenhouse gas emissions, especially during the production stages. In conclusion, this study underlines the importance of considering multiple parameters while evaluating the performance of photovoltaic modules. Environmental factors can have a major impact on the performance of a PV system. It is critical to consider these factors, as well as intrinsic and other intermediate factors, to optimize the performance of solar energy systems. In addition, continuous monitoring and maintenance of PV systems is essential to ensure maximum efficiency and performance.

Jathar LD ，Ganesan S ，Awasarmol U ，Nikam K ，Shahapurkar K ，Soudagar MEM ，Fayaz H ，El-Shafay AS ，Kalam MA ，Bouadila S ，Baddadi S ，Tirth V ，Nizami AS ，Lam SS ，Rehan M ... -  《-》

Environmental impacts of a stand-alone photovoltaic system in sub-saharan Africa: A case study in Burkina Faso.

This study aims to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts of stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems with storage installed in Burkina Faso using the life cycle assessment (LCA). SimaPro 9.4 software, Ecoinvent 3.7 database, and the ReCiPe 2018 (H) median method were used to assess the environmental impacts. The functional unit considered is "1 kWh of electricity produced in Burkina Faso by a stand-alone PV system". Four scenarios combining two variables, battery technology (lead-acid and lithium-ion) and end-of-life management (landfill and recycling), were studied to assess 08 environmental indicators. The results show that production and end-of-life management of batteries and PV modules are the main contributors to the environmental impact, with batteries' impact ranging from 73 to 98 % for lead-acid and 50-68 % for lithium-ion batteries. Compared to landfilling, recycling significantly reduces environmental impacts, achieving reductions of 17-77 % for lead-acid batteries (LABs) and 3-99 % for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The comparison between scenarios indicates that the LABs PV system with landfilling generates significantly higher scores across all impact categories than LIBs PV scenarios. Specifically, it shows scores over 10 times higher for human carcinogenic toxicity, 5 times higher for human non-carcinogenic toxicity, and 2 times higher for freshwater ecotoxicity. Despite extending battery lifespan, the sensitivity analysis revealed that landfill PV systems remain the most polluting, while in recycled scenarios, this extension brings them closer to the environmental performance of LIBs PV systems. The use of LIBs in photovoltaic systems is more environmentally friendly than that of LABs, regardless of the end-of-life scenario.

Badza K ，Sawadogo M ，Soro YM 《Heliyon》

Tradeoffs and Synergies between biofuel production and large solar infrastructure in deserts.

Ravi S ，Lobell DB ，Field CB 《-》

Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic electricity production in Italy: Current scenario and future developments.

This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of photovoltaic (PV) electricity production in Italy based on the composition of the current and future Italian PV scenario. Using detailed and site-specific data, the actual composition of the Italian mix of PV technologies at the end of 2022 and those expected for 2030 were defined. A new LCA modelling of the most relevant PV technologies was carried out using updated and reliable inventory data. The impact assessment was performed adopting the most relevant impact categories of Environmental Footprint Method v. 3.1. The environmental profiles of the two Italian PV scenarios (PV Scenario_2021 and PV Scenario_2030) analysed in this study were compared with that of the PV scenario achievable using unaltered Ecoinvent v 3.9.1 datasets specific to Italian. The obtained results highlighted that the use of Ecoinvent datasets and hypothesis entails a significant overestimation of the environmental impacts of photovoltaic electricity production in Italy; showing higher impacts ranging from 70 % to 30 % (depending on the impact category considered) and the main key factors affecting the results were investigated. However, the wide impacts gaps pointed out the importance of conducting representative LCA studies of the fast-growing and evolving PV context of the countries, to provide reliable impact results to policy makers and to other researchers and who need to include the PV electricity generation in their studies. Furthermore, the environmental performance analysis of the two Italian PV scenarios highlighted the higher sustainability of the PV electricity production in the next years (PV Scenario_2030) for all considered impact categories (except for land use). This improvement can be primarily attributed to the higher annual energy yield and the greater utilization of high-efficiency PV technologies, along with the expansion of ground-mounted PV plants.

Ferrara C ，Marmiroli B ，Carvalho ML ，Girardi P ... -  《-》