At the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Tomorrow’s Energies (LIED, CNRS/Univ. Paris Cité), a series of studies is addressing the specific material requirements for developing photovoltaic technology. The various scenarios all point to the need for increased recycling of metals, including those not currently considered strategic, such as copper and aluminum.
By Martin Koppe
Although it aims to make better use of natural resources, the ecological transition itself needs resources. Metals, for example, are essential for building wind farms and solar parks that meet the ambitious targets set to address climate change. José Halloy, professor at Paris Cité University and member of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Tomorrow’s Energies (LIED, CNRS/Univ. Paris Cité), which he co-founded in 2013, places these issues at the heart of his research.
“We created LIED in order to address the energy transition in a transdisciplinary manner, combining natural and technical sciences with humanities and social sciences,” explains José Halloy. “This allows us, for example, to study the issue of critical materials from both a physical and geopolitical perspective. While physical stocks are declining, demand continues to rise, including to ensure the ecological transition, and while developing countries are in the midst of building infrastructure. We conclude that, even in the short term, massive recycling of materials will be necessary to achieve these objectives.”
José Halloy estimates the amount of materials required, on a global scale, to operate technical and energy production systems. In particular, he has highlighted that it is more useful to consider energy in terms of power rather than quantity. Certain sectors, such as metallurgy, require a great deal of power to start up and maintain infrastructure such as blast furnaces. Wind and solar power are not capable of delivering such high and short-lived peaks, despite the amount of energy they can provide. This is why José Halloy emphasizes this distinction, which is more in line with practical applications.
Joseph Le Bihan: « Long-term renewal of world PV capacity » – Presentation during the JNPV 2024
His team recently worked on the constraints of the photovoltaic industry. Three scientific articles are currently being published, all based on the thesis work of Joseph Le Bihan, who is pursuing his doctorate at LIED. His research focuses on assessing the actual material requirements for implementing various scenarios provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the prospects for photovoltaics.
“Its main conclusion is that recycling will be necessary, even for materials that are not generally considered rare or exotic,” explains José Halloy. Take copper, for example. Although millions of tons of copper are produced each year, demand will eventually raise questions about its supply. It’s a fascinating case, because copper is easy to reuse: it’s sometimes even more interesting to recycle it than to extract it. But to generalize this, we will need to bring an entire copper recycling industry to maturity by 2050-2060, particularly to recover the copper already present in end-of-life solar panels.”
Recycling will be necessary, including for materials that are not generally considered rare or exotic.
Similarly, the development of photovoltaic power plants must take into account the replacement of existing plants, which wear out like any other infrastructure. “These models reveal counterintuitive findings, such as the fact that the path to achieving the desired energy capacity is not straightforward,” continues José Halloy. This is due to the need to produce new equipment in anticipation of the end of life of current equipment.
This work on material and energy flows is coupled with geopolitical analyses conducted with Florian Vidal and Thomas Lapi’s thesis on strategic metals, also at LIED. His research focuses on critical metal recycling industries in Nordic countries. For the time being, these countries are concentrating their efforts on battery metals with mixed success, particularly due to certain structural difficulties at the European level, marked by increased Sino-American rivalry. A first article on geopolitics has been submitted to a scientific journal and two others are in the process of being published on the Nordic countries. The aim of this work is to draw lessons from the Nordic case to promote the emergence of future recycling industries in France.
These studies will also contribute to the PEPR’s Strategic Metals project. This project deals with the recycling of metals from electronics and permanent magnets. LIED researchers wish to develop the issue of transition through wind and solar power, as well as battery recycling, particularly based on the Nordic case, which links to the PEPR Recycling sector and the PEPR TASE on renewables. “Without recycling, particularly of metals, it will be difficult to achieve our ecological transition objectives,” warns José Halloy.
The various technological and socio-economic scenarios give the impression that once the energy transition is complete, we can relax. But we must realize that this is not just a stage that ends in 2050; it is a goal that involves long-term challenges. Maintaining and sustaining an energy system based on renewable technologies is a major challenge, the full extent of which has not yet been considered.
Joseph Le Bihan, during the presentation of his research at the National Photovoltaic Days (JNPV) in December 2024.
Release of the second PEPR Recyclage newsletter, which brings together a series of articles to better understand our work and discover the members of the program.
