Task 12 participants from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Stuttgart University, ESU-services Ltd., CEP, MINES Paris Tech, and Elkem Solar are engaged in ongoing projects on LCA for all kind of PV module technologies (see for example figure 1).

In this context, research on the Elkem Solar metallurgical process route to solar grade silicon (Elkem Solar Silicon - ESS^TM) has been conducted and a complete LCA model has been used for this.  The results of this research were disseminated at the "SCSI IX - Silicon for chemical and solar industry". Afterwards, the models have been upgraded with sensitivity analysis on the re-use of waste heat internally and externally in the production process. These results were presented at the 23rd  PVSEC - European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in Valencia, September 2008.  More information and links to papers concerning this topic can be found in the "Publications and Reports" section.

The “Methodology Guidelines on Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Electricity” have been completed by Task 12 members and were published in September 2009.

This document presents the first agreement at international level on how to perform Life Cycle Analysis. It provides recommendations regarding technical characteristics related to photovoltaic systems, aspects regarding modelling approaches in Life Cycle Inventory, Life Cycle Analysis and Life Cycle Impact Assessment; furthermore, it provides procedures regarding reporting and communication.

The Ecoinvent database has been updated. Data have been collected by Utrecht University, ECN, BNL, ESU-services Ltd. and other sources and were provided to this project. The latest version (V2.1) was published in May 2009 and is available at www.ecoinvent.org. It incorporates updated information on CdTe and BOS materials for mounting structures.

Moreover, many more papers related to Life Cycle Assessment and other environmental aspects can be found in the "Publications and Reports" section of this website. More papers are available on the respective websites of:

• Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN): http://www.ecn.nl/publicaties/default.aspx?au=44649

• Columbia University: http://www.clca.columbia.edu/publications.html

• Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL): http://www.pv.bnl.gov 

• University of Utrecht: http://www.chem.uu.nl/nws/www/research/e&e/e&e_rena.htm

• ESU-services: http://www.esu-services.ch/cms/index.php?id=pv

• Radboud University Nijmegen: http://www.ru.nl/environmentalscience/research/life_cycle/photovoltaic_systems/