Page 105 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

100 A COMPrEHENSIVE GUIdE TO SOlAr ENErGy SySTEMS

should rise with volumes of lead-acid batteries recycled in the future, potentially result-
ing in cheaper batteries for photovoltaic systems. To maximize this advantage, South
African energy companies could engage with First National Battery to optimize circu-
lar material flows for lead-acid batteries within South Africa. Several businesses within
South Africa operate a lead-acid battery reconditioning service which reverses the sul-
fation process that limits their working life. This presents opportunities to extend the
working lives of lead-acid batteries for the proposed photovoltaic system, improving
its economic viability through reduction of battery replacement costs over the system
lifetime, and ultimately providing lower cost electrification for rural regions. With this
infrastructure in place, opportunities should be explored for utilization of refurbished
automotive lead-acid batteries in a second life for the proposed system; these are
much cheaper than new batteries, and associated environmental, social, and economic
benefits will result from the initiation of new industry around battery refurbishment.
li-ion batteries are undergoing rapid development and may, in future, challenge lead-
acid batteries for this role, but to the best of the Authors’ knowledge no li-ion battery
recycling exists in Africa. In South Africa, li-ion batteries are collected and shipped to
Europe for recycling at considerable economic and environmental cost. South Africa also
has no li-ion battery manufacturing through which to valorize recovered materials in
closed-loop material flows [44]. This indicates li-ion end-of-life costs in South Africa will
be comparatively high, with significant logistics costs incurred, and little of the social and
economic value inherent in li-ion batteries exploited within South Africa. High costs in-
crease the likelihood of improper end-of-life management, and the resulting potential for
impacts on health and the environment is high. However, the South African government
has funded research seeking to develop domestic li-ion battery recycling [44]. Were such
an industry to emerge, the derivable economic, environmental, and social benefits from
li-ion battery recycling within South Africa could be improved significantly. No future
prospects for li-ion refurbishment exist at this time. It may be possible to source used
automotive batteries for reuse at reduced costs, with associated environmental benefits to
the proposed system [45]. As an emerging technology yet to be deployed in Africa, Aquion
batteries have few prospects for end-of-life treatment within the continent in the near
future.

5.9 Future Solar Cell Technologies

Although they are the dominant product on the market, c-Si PV devices are relatively fragile,
expensive, quite heavy, and have relatively high embodied energy compared to following
generations of PV [46]. The second generation of thin-film technologies, which includes
amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper-indium-selenide (CIS), and
copper-indium-gallium-diselinide (CIGS), have begun gaining market share, account-
ing for ∼7% of global PV production in 2015, with some projections showing an increase
to 50% by 2030 [47]. Although giving lower efficiency than c-Si PV, second generation