Life-Cycle Assessment of Different Solar Cell

The life cycle of solar modules can have adverse effect on the environment in terms depletion of ozone layer, climate change, impact on land use, resource depletion and cause toxicological effect on human health and ecosystem. This can be solved using the life-cycle assessment (LCA) method where the severity of the environmental impact of a solar cell can be assessed which will assist the decision making process of a company or a government. The objective of this project is to use ReCiPe method to conduct the LCA and to come up with the solar module that has the least impact on the environment. ReCiPe method is specifically chosen because it has more advantage compared to other LCA methods. Besides that, other LCA methods have too many weak points which make the assessment less accurate. The scope of study for this project is focused on 4 types of solar cells which are mono-crystalline silicon (mono-Si), poly-crystalline silicon (poly-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe). For the methodology, the LCA of each solar cell was done using the SimaPro software where it addressed the environmental impact of the solar modules in graphical form. Before that, the inventory data for the manufacturing of the solar module was found and input into the database of the software. The analysis produced 3 types of results which are midpoint indicators, endpoint damage indicators and single score. From the results, it was decided that CdTe solar modules is the most environmental friendly module compared Mono-Si, Poly-Si and a-Si solar module. Further details of the project will be explained in the following chapters.