The IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) is one of the collaborative R&D Agreements established (in 1993) within the International Energy Agency. 

The mission of the IEA PVPS programme is: To enhance the international collaboration efforts which accelerate the development and deployment of photovoltaic solar energy as a significant and sustainable renewable energy option.

It is divided into 12 individual research projects (Tasks), each covering a different topic. For more information on the organisation and the objectives of the PVPS agreement and the different tasks and their outcomes, please visit the IEA-PVPS website. More detailed information about the IEA PVPS Programme can be found in the Annual Reports.

Task 12 is a 5 year long (2007-2011) research project dealing with PV environmental health and safety activities.

The goal of Task 12 is to facilitate a common understanding of EH&S issues among the various country members, and disseminate the Task group’s knowledge and understanding to stakeholders and to energy and environmental policy decision makers.          

Task 12 aims at fostering international collaboration in the areas of safety and sustainability which are crucial for allowing PV to grow and make major contributions to the energy needs of the member countries and the world.  There are both technical and perception issues that need to be addressed.

 

The overall objectives of the Task are to:

a) Quantify the environmental profile of PV in comparison to other energy technologies.

b) Define and address EH&S and sustainability technical and perception issues that are important for the market growth.

c) Disseminate the results of the EH&S analyses to stakeholders, policy makers and the general public.

 

The first objective can be served with life cycle analysis (LCA) that describes energy, material and emission flows in all stages of the life of PV. The second objective will be addressed by assisting the collective action of PV companies on defining material availability and product recycling issues and on communicating “lessons learned” from incidents, or preventing incidents in PV production facilities. The third objective (dissemination) will be accomplished by presentations to broad audiences, producing simple fact sheets documented by comprehensive reports, and engaging industry associations and the media in the dissemination of the information.

 

The Task 12 is divided in the following 4 Subtasks:

Subtask 1 Recycling of Manufacturing Waste and Spent Modules

This subtask addresses the following objectives:

• Assist the development of collection infrastructure by examining and evaluating the collection infrastructure of other recyclables (e.g., electronics, liquid crystal displays)
• Enhance the interaction among industry players so that they share information and resources for collection and recycling
• Show the technical and cost feasibility of collection and recycling (to environmental-policy makers, e.g., WEEE, RoHS)
• Identify common tasks where financial resources can be shared (e.g., separation of EVA from the module).

Subtask 2 Life Cycle Assessment

This subtask aims the next targets:

• Establish and demonstrate, with comprehensive and transparent studies over the full life cycle, that PV systems are environmentally friendly compared to other energy systems.
• Show the improvement trends of the PV environmental profile by certain indicators (e.g., EPBT, GHG emissions, waste reduction, materials' recycling/recovery).
• Continue showing such progress in annual updates over the course of Task 12 (5 years).
• Valuate the environmental benefits of PV by showing avoided impacts or avoided "external" costs.

Subtask 3 EH&S in Manufacturing Facilities

The main objectives within this subtask are:

• Develop risk factors and compare with other energy technologies
• Identify accident prevention and control options for specific technologies
• Identify pollution control technologies for major types of PV manufacturing facilities
• Identify prevention and control strategies for green-house gases (GHG) in PV manufacturing facilities

Subtask 4 EHS Information Dissemination