Is Renewable Energy a viable solution?

 

With the recent carbon net neutrality pledges, the debate of sustainability of renewable energy and its supply chain has come in light. When we talk about renewable energy, it simply means the energy which is derived from natural sources such as solar rays, wind or tidal power. However, we usually miss its supply chain discussion, i.e. the process through which the raw material is extracted to make components for renewable energy industry. Magnets for wind turbines, photovoltaic cells for solar energy, and lithium batteries are examples of these components. Rare earth metals are made up of seventeen chemical elements, including 15 lanthanides (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium), scandium, and yttrium.

 

Despite the name rare earth metals, these are abundantly present in earth, however the process to mining these minerals is difficult, polluting and costly. Extraction of these minerals involves land exploitation, environmental degradation and labour exploitation to say the least. Example, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mines around 50% of world’s Cobalt supply. One of the largest mineral processors in the country is Huayou Cobalt subsidiary CDM. Huayou Cobalt gets more than 40% of its cobalt from DRC. According to Amnesty International at least  80 artisanal miners had died between 2014 and 2015 in underground mining, child labour is rampant and were paid 2 dollars per day or even less and approximately (as of 2015) 40,000 children were employed in these operations, if we factor in the long term health hazards according to CDC guidelines on  Workplace Safety & Health Topics: Cobalt, long term cobalt exposure can lead to respiratory sensitization, asthma, shortness of breath, and decreased pulmonary function. Sustained skin contact with cobalt can also lead to contact dermatitis. The provided example was specific to one country and one of the numerous rare earth minerals. This serves as a snapshot, the broader global perspective may reveal a much more alarming and disturbing situation.

 

According to India’s NTPC to produce 1 megawatt of energy from thermal power plant we require around 0.7 to 0.8 acre of land, similarly 1 megawatt of solar energy plant would require around 1.5 to 2 acre of no shadow land depending upon the technology and a wind farm would require at least 1 hectare to produce the same. So the question again arises, is the renewable energy really a viable solution?

 

According to Internal Energy Agency, in the year 2000 solar energy output was around 1.4GW which in 2020 has jumped to 760GW. A solar photovoltaic cells which is made up of crystalline silicon have a life span of about 30 years. According to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), by 2030 panels waste is forecasted at 8 million metric tonnes, which is projected to go up to 80 million metric tonnes by 2050.

 

Do we have technology to treat the waste produced from renewable energy?

Yes, we do have technologies which involves physical to chemical processes to recycle solar panels. However, the unit economics for recycling solar panels is not attractive, according to IRENA, recycling cost of a solar panel can go up to $25 whereas dumping it on landfills cost a meagre 2 to 3 dollars, due to which nearly 10% of solar panel waste never reaches the recycling market.

 

Certainly there are many issues with renewable energy which needs to be addressed, but it is also comparatively much cleaner and green when compared to thermal energy. India’s E-Waste Management Rules 2022 and Europeans Unions Waste Electrical and Electronic equipment (WEEE) rules are few of rules and regulations which can serve as guiding principles for solar waste management and make the recycling technology cost efficient and uniform.