{"id":251525,"date":"2025-12-26T00:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T00:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/251525\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T00:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T00:07:08","slug":"solar-energy-indias-renewable-energy-boom-faces-a-hidden-waste-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/251525\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar energy: India’s renewable energy boom faces a hidden waste problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

India has no official data on solar waste, but a study estimated around 100,000 tonnes by 2023, rising to 600,000 tonnes, external<\/a> by 2030. For now, the volume is small, but experts warn the bulk is yet to come – and without rapid recycling investment, India could face a growing waste crisis.<\/p>\n

A new study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) estimates that India could generate more than 11 million tonnes of solar waste, external<\/a> by 2047. Managing this would require almost 300 dedicated recycling facilities and an investment of $478 (\u00a3362m) over the next two decades.<\/p>\n

“Most of India’s large solar parks were built in the mid-2010s, so the real wave of waste is coming in 10 to 15 years,” says Rohit Pahwa of energy company Targray.<\/p>\n

India’s solar-waste projections mirror global patterns: the US, external<\/a> may generate 170,000\u20131 million tonnes and China nearly one million tonnes by 2030, following rapid solar expansion in the 2010s.<\/p>\n

The policy landscape, however, differs significantly.<\/p>\n

In the US, solar-panel recycling is mostly market-driven under a patchwork of state rules. China’s system, like India’s, is still developing and lacks a dedicated regulatory framework.<\/p>\n

In 2022, India brought solar panels under e-waste rules, making manufacturers responsible for collecting, storing, dismantling and recycling them at end of life.<\/p>\n

Experts say enforcement is uneven, especially for home and small-scale panels, which make up 5\u201310% of installations. Though modest, these panels can still generate substantial waste, as they are harder to track, collect, and recycle.<\/p>\n

Damaged or discarded panels often end up in landfills or with unauthorised recyclers, where unsafe methods can release toxic materials. The BBC has contacted India’s renewable energy ministry for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India has no official data on solar waste, but a study estimated around 100,000 tonnes by 2023, rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[18,440,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-251525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115782958879776782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}