Environmental performance of renewable energy systems with the application of life-cycle assessment: a multi-Si photovoltaic module case study

Life-cycle thinking significantly affects the assessment of the environmental performance of a system. In this study, the life-cycle assessment of a multi-Si photovoltaic (PV) module was conducted in order to examine the environmental burden throughout its life cycle and benchmark it with the environmental burden of the identical conventional energy produced with the energy mix of Greece and supplied by the national energy network grid. The results indicated that aluminium, solar glass and the energy consumed during PV assembly significantly affected the environmental performance of the PV module. Non-renewable energy utilisation, global warming and respiratory inorganic emissions were the major impact categories affected by the life cycle of the module examined. Significant questions were raised regarding the distance of the PV installation site from manufacturers and maintenance personnel. Still, the utilisation of the system examined was more efficient than the application of conventional energy sources in terms of environmental performance.