AGL Energy has collaborated with solar panel recycler Elecsome to explore the development of a PV materials recovery facility at the Bayswater coal-fired power station site in New South Wales, Australia.
AGL Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Elecsome to develop a feasibility study into the establishment of a solar panel recycling plant and solar cable manufacturing facility in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, as part of the company’s commitment to the site in Bayswater as a renewable energy source. energy hub.
If the feasibility study is successful, the recycling plant is expected to be able to upcycle up to 500,000 solar panels per year. A second phase would then focus on the extraction of high-value materials, including silicon wafers for reuse in PV and battery-quality silicon, electrical conductors for reuse in electrical devices, and the extraction and reuse of silver, copper and aluminum.
The solar cable plant is expected to produce up to 20,000 km of solar cable per year, which will be used in residential and commercial solar installations, as well as utility-scale projects.
For AGL, the deal with Elecsome builds on a strategy to transform the sites of the Bayswater Power Station and the nearby Liddell coal-fired power station into a low-carbon integrated energy hub bringing together renewable energy industries including generation, grid-scale batteries, green advanced manufacturing and related industries.
The company has already signed a deal with Australian solar cell technology innovator SunDrive Solar to explore the development, construction and operation of a commercial-scale solar cell technology project. production of solar cells facility as part of the hub and has approvals to a 500 MW/1,000 MWh battery on the Liddell site. It has also signed an agreement with Renewable Metals to explore the feasibility of building lithium battery recycling facility as part of the hub.
Travis Hughes, general manager of AGL’s energy hubs, said the company’s vision for the Hunter Energy Hub is beginning to take shape.
“Since the closure of Liddell Power Station a year ago, we have signed MOUs that could bring battery recycling with renewable metals and solar panel manufacturing with SunDrive to the Hunter Energy Hub,” he said. “Today we add the recycling of solar panels and the production of solar cables to that list of partners. If successful, the establishment of a solar panel recycling plant and a solar cable manufacturing plant with Elecsome will mean we host different parts of the solar value chain with both the production and recycling of grid-scale solar panels and residential solar panels in the Hunter Energy Hub. ”
The feasibility study with Elecsome will determine key infrastructure and technical requirements and identify regulatory approvals and licenses required for the development, construction and operation of both the solar panel recycling plant and the solar cable manufacturing facility.
If developed, the recycling plant would be Elecsome’s first commercial-scale solar facility in New South Wales and follows the successful commissioning of its first solar upcycling facility in Victoria, where it converts solar panels into new products used in the construction and manufacturing industry.
The company has developed a patented technology to use glass particles from solar panels to replace natural sand to create SolarCrete, a pre-mixed concrete. This product will be part of the feasibility study at the Hunter site.
The Bayswater plant is expected to close between 2030 and 2033. Liddell power station became to block in April 2023.
AGL plans to close its coal-fired Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley by 2035 and is also considering setting up a solar panel recycling plant at the site.
AGL signed an MOU with Solar Recovery Corp. (SRC) for a feasibility study on setting up a PV recycling facility at the site when the station is closed.
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