Office Not All PV Recycling Is Created Equal: Why Material Purity Defines the Value of Circular Economy The industry talks volume. The real question is quality. 91 per cent. That is the recovery rate Europe reported for collected PV modules in 2022, according to IEA PVPS Task 12. 88.8 per cent were recy... Apr 19, 2026 Our blog
Office Why PV Modules Must Be Transported Vertically — And What Happens When They Aren't Teaser: A module that leaves the roof intact is not necessarily the same module that arrives at the test bench. A large share of damage that later gets labeled "ageing" is actually transport damage: m... Apr 14, 2026 Our blog
Office Why healthy PV modules still hold 95–98 % of rated power after 20 years, while the park itself looks far worse. 95–98 % Performance After 20 Years — Why So Many Get This Wrong Teaser: The data is unambiguous: the dominant problem in aging PV parks is not ageing. It is defects. Anyone reading string-level number... Apr 14, 2026 Our blog
Office Why High-Quality PV Recycling Starts at Deframing Why High-Quality PV Recycling Starts at Deframing Deframing—the automated separation of the aluminum frame from the glass module body—is not merely another process step among many. It is the critical ... Apr 14, 2026 PV Module Recycling: Why the Status Quo Is Not Enough – And How to Do Better
Simon Prüller Encapsulant & Backsheet: The Key to PV Lifespan What a High-Alpine PV Plant with 30+ Years of Operation Teaches Us If you want real long-term reliability data for PV modules, you rarely get a better testbed than a mountain. On Loser near Altaussee, a PV plant commissioned by Energie AG has been operating since 198... Jan 31, 2026 Our blog
Office 2nd Cycle Year in Review 2025: A strong year for reuse, data, and recycling 2025 was a good year for 2nd Cycle. Not loud, not exaggerated—but successful. We achieved important milestones, worked with strong partners, and saw that our approach works in practice: evaluating pho... Dec 31, 2025 Our blog
Office How Wien Energie and 2nd Cycle are extending the life cycle of PV modules Photovoltaic modules have been considered durable capital goods for many years. However, when they are dismantled after 20 to 25 years, operators often assume that replacement and recycling are the on... Dec 11, 2025 Our blog
Office Reuse instead of disposal: How LINZ AG is extending the life cycle of PV systems with 2nd Cycle What to do with photovoltaic modules when a system has to be dismantled? Until now, the answer was usually recycling or disposal – often well before the end of their actual service life. LINZ AG has n... Nov 27, 2025 Our blog
Simon Prüller Why Solar Systems Lose More Power Output Than Modules When talking about the service life of PV systems, the same figure almost always comes up: 👉 0.5% power loss per year. This value comes from meta-studies conducted by Fraunhofer ISE and NREL and descr... Oct 24, 2025 Our blog
Simon Prüller Testing PV modules: Why precise testing can make a difference of millions When a power plant is flooded In the fall of 2024, a once-in-a-century flood hit the EVN photovoltaic park in Dürnrohr. The plant, with 35,600 modules, had been in operation for just one year when it ... Oct 16, 2025 Our blog
Simon Prüller Has the performance of PV modules really tripled over the last ten years? A fact check on efficiency, area coverage—and new challenges More and more often, we hear people say, “The performance of PV modules has tripled in recent years.” Sounds impressive—but is it really tr... Jul 24, 2025 Our blog
Simon Prüller Disposal and Recycling of PV Modules in Austria – An Overview 1. Legal Framework & Producer Responsibility Since July 1, 2014, PV modules in Austria are subject to the Waste Electrical Equipment Ordinance (EAG-VO) , which implements the EU WEEE Directive. Accord... Jun 8, 2025 Our blog
