Broken Solar Panels? Discover Safe, Compliant Recycling Solutions

Are Broken Solar Panels Dangerous? Here’s What You Need to Know

Quick Answer: Broken solar panels can be dangerous because they may expose hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium, or other toxic substances found in some photovoltaic modules. Damaged panels can also present electrical shock risks and, if not handled properly, may contaminate soil or water. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), proper recycling and disposal of broken solar panels are essential to prevent environmental and health hazards.

Key Takeaways

• Broken solar panels are most often damaged by weather (hail, wind-blown debris, micro-scratches), improper handling during transport or installation, or water intrusion from degraded seals.
• Even panels with invisible damage or reduced efficiency may still have some value, but extensive cracks or internal corrosion often require disposal.
• Broken solar panels contain hazardous materials such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and silicon, which require careful, professional handling and disposal.
• Improper disposal can result in environmental and health risks; professional recycling ensures compliance with federal and state regulations.
• Solar panel recycling providers recover usable parts and materials, prevent panels from being landfilled, and ensure environmentally responsible processing.

When talking about what happens to broken solar panels and other photovoltaic cells, we’re talking about physically broken panels. This rules out other factors that play a major part in how long a solar panel might last.

Just because a solar cell has degraded (the efficiency of the panel and overall performance has declined over time), doesn’t mean that there’s no value left in the panel. If that same panel is riddled with small cracks or collects moisture, then there’s damage (even if the damage is not visible to the eye) and there could be a limited value, if any value at all, left in the panel.

Broken Solar Panels – How It Happens

Typically, broken solar panels are damaged due to weather (hail, debris from extreme winds). While damage from a tree limb falling from a storm wouldn’t surprise anyone, often the biggest culprits of damage are much smaller. Twigs, leaves and dirt or sand can be blown across the glass of solar panels. The damage to the panels in cases such as this starts almost microscopically.

These “micro-scratches” on your solar panels accelerate the degradation timeline, leading to less solar energy being absorbed. The scratches tend to get worse over time until the solar panels are so damaged that they need to be replaced.

Another source of “micro damages” to solar panels is the hand-to-hand transportation that takes place during installation or maintenance. During this transportation, the solar panel’s frame can easily be bent, just like large boards of wood would bend and flex as you carry them from the home improvement store. Unfortunately, in the case of the solar panels, the aluminum, glass, and hardware of the PV cells aren’t made to accommodate “flex” and the unintentional damage is done.

Thinking about the degradation of panels and their efficiency over time, there’s another component to solar panels that causes damage, although there’s no one person or thing to blame for the cause. This is water damage to solar panels due to deteriorated or old seals. Losing a good seal is effectively like springing a leak in your home’s roof. You won’t be able to stop moisture from coming in and causing internal corrosion.