Solar Frontier announced today that its CIS-based thin film modules have been certified as RoHS compliant. While solar modules are currently exempt from RoHS compliance, Solar Frontier is one of the few manufacturers able to meet the requirements and has completed voluntary testing by TÜV Rheinland to make it official. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances adopted by the European Union in 2003 sets a 0.01 percent concentration limit on cadmium, and a 0.1 percent limit on lead, mercury and three other hazardous substances, for any component of a certified device.
Solar energy has many environmental advantages in the worlds energy portfolio, but toxicity is an extremely important issue, so Solar Frontier is proud to have taken the initiative with its more eco-friendly product by voluntarily complying with the RoHS directive, said Wolfgang Lange, Managing Director of Solar Frontier Europe. Solar Frontier believes that as solar energy rapidly grows around the world, it is important that environmental standards advance to ensure that solar energy also fulfills its ecological promise.
The goal of RoHS is to reduce the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. Solar Frontier has been developing its proprietary CIS technology since 1993 in order to achieve a combination of better performance and environmental friendliness at a lower cost per kilowatt hour.
In addition, Solar Frontier announced last year that it joined the European association PV Cycle. Founded in 2007, the Brussels-based interest group is developing an industry-wide, voluntary waste-management and recycling program for end-of-life photovoltaic modules. By joining PV Cycle, Solar Frontier reaffirmed its responsibility for its CIS modules throughout their entire lifecycle.
End-of-life modules are still scarce compared to the number of modules still in operation, as significant photovoltaic systems began ramping up in the early 1990s. The average photovoltaic module is expected to produce energy for over 25 years. PV Cycle intends to have its program in place by 2015, when a large number of modules have to be replaced. To this end, PV Cycle supports research to minimize recycling costs and provides information for owners, installers and distributors of PV modules.
Solar Frontiers CIS technology has been developed since 1993 to minimize the challenges of solar panel recycling by eliminating hazards. The company encourages the industry to think more about how solar energy can become more environmentally-sustainable in the long-term. In addition, Solar Frontiers parent company, Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., has partnered with Kitakyushu City to build Japans first PV system recycling facility in a project with Japans New Energy Development Organization (NEDO). It is cooperating with NEDO and universities to co-develop appropriate processes to recycle all kinds of solar panels.
