The rapid growth of solar photovoltaics (PV) is central to Europe’s clean energy transition, but it also creates a challenge: how to deal with the large number of solar panels that will reach the end of their life in the coming decades. Today, recycling mainly recovers glass and aluminium, while valuable materials such as silicon, copper, and silver are mostly lost. Different panel designs, complex layers, and poor traceability make efficient recycling and reuse even more difficult. Without new solutions, millions of tonnes of PV waste risk being landfilled or downcycled, causing environmental harm and wasting raw materials that are vital for Europe’s Green Deal and REPowerEU ambitions.
The QUASAR project addresses this by developing a comprehensive approach for the circular management of PV modules that have reached their end of life. It combines advanced recycling technologies with digital tools for traceability, repair, and reuse, creating transparent and cost-effective value chains. Two pilot recycling plants will be built to demonstrate high-throughput, high-purity recovery, aiming to recycle 70–90% of all material fractions. At the same time, a digital product passports will allow panels to be tracked, help to decide between reuse or recycling, and optimise logistics. Repair and second-life solutions will be tested alongside recycling, ensuring that as much value as possible is retained.
QUASAR’s goals are to lower the costs of decommissioning PV plants and repair, reach recycling throughputs of around 10,000 tonnes per year, generate revenues from the recovered materials, and establish European recycling hubs capable of supplying high-quality secondary raw materials back into PV, semiconductor, glass, and chemical industries. Environmental and economic benefits will be assessed, while new business models will prepare the ground for wider adoption across Europe. In this way, QUASAR will turn end-of-life PV modules from a growing waste problem into a valuable resource, reducing import dependence, advancing Europe’s circular economy, and strengthening a sustainable and competitive PV industry.
