L R AS Published on Monday 31 January 2022 - n° 391 - Categories:battery materials
Recovering metals to limit global warming
Because of its high conductivity, low weight and excellent corrosion resistance, aluminium is one of the key raw materials in the solar industry. It is used in cells, panel frames, mounting parts and inverters.
Although abundant and cheap, primary aluminium production has a high energy cost, which is associated with greenhouse gas emissions. This will have to be taken into account if we are to rapidly reduce emissions to 'net zero' and limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
A group of researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia has sounded the alarm about the climate pressure aluminium could create if we were to rely solely on primary production by 2050. They found that installing 60 TWp of photovoltaic panels by 2050, as envisaged by the electrification scenarios in recent energy roadmaps, could require up to 486 MT of aluminium by 2050. This huge volume to be manufactured could in turn undermine the environmental benefits of photovoltaics because of its significant global warming potential.
If the intensity of emissions during primary production is not reduced, more than 3,000 Mt ofCO2 could be released into the atmosphere.
If we can decarbonise the electricity used to melt aluminium, we might as well use recycled aluminium and reuse the aluminium from old panels. This could considerably slow down global warming.
To achieve 60 TWp of installed photovoltaic capacity by 2050, compared with just over 700 GWp at the end of 2020 (i.e. 85 times more), we would need to produce up to 4.5 TW of additional capacity each year.
Aluminium is attractive to recycle because its secondary production requires only around 5% of the energy required for primary production, and generates only 3 to 5% of the emissions from primary production. In the analysis, the percentage of recycled content in the aluminium used for added capacity has been assumed to increase linearly from 34% in 2020 to 75% in 2050.
PV Magazine, 25 January 2022
Editor's note Researchers are increasingly questioning whether it will be possible to achieve the targets set by climate advocates. Obstacles to achieving the 1.5°C target are being highlighted, as if to show that in various areas the targets are unattainable. Other studies point to the scarcity of raw materials and the consequent risk of price rises, as all countries want to buy the same products for batteries and panels.
