Resource Efficiency and Future Resource Requirement in PV System; Case Study of South Korea
Résumé
The worldwide demand for fossil and minerals are growing continuously. Also the demand for a number of metals and rare materials are forecast to double over the next 50 years (Muilerman and Blonk 2001). This resource depletion is also related with technologies for harvesting adequate amounts of sustainable energy. Renewable energy technology and systems such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind system are consuming rare materials and using available land as well as providing direct benefits at national and local levels. In South Korea, intensive effort started in 1988 under Promotion Act for New and Renewable Energy Development. According to the 3rd National Plan for Energy Technology Development, the Government is aiming at the supply of 6% of total energy demand by new and renewable energy by 2020 and 11% by 2030. In case of the PV system, the production goal is targeted from 59,000 TOE production in 2008 to 1,364,000 TOE production in 2030 (about 2,311% increased). In this study, based on 1 m2 PV module production (Single-crystal silicon (SC-Si), Multi-crystal silicon (MC-Si), CI(G)S thin-film (CI(G)S), CdTe thin-film (CdTe)), the life cycle resources requirement (e.g., types and amount of input ferrous and nonferrous metals and rare materials), resource efficiency and land use are calculated by using material balance data and Eco-invent life cycle inventory data. Also by using the photovoltaic energy production target in South Korea by 2030, future requirement resources and land use amount calculated. As a result, the consumption of ferrous and nonferrous metals, rare earth and critical materials as well as land use were quantified. In the ferrous and nonferrous metal, aluminium (SC-Si; 23kg, MC-Si; 23kg, CI(G)S; 17kg, and CdTe; 16kg) was the most consumed metal and followed by iron and zinc. In the rare materials, cadmium, chromium, manganese, gallium and molybdenum were the most used metals. Also uranium was the most consumed metal in rare earth materials.