Deconstructing the Downstream Void A Four-gap Typology for Solar PV End-of-Life Management in Australia

Abstract

Estimates of Australian photovoltaic (PV) waste vary considerably, but all point to substantial and rapidly growing volumes over the coming decade, placing increasing demand on downstream end-of-life (EOL) infrastructure.

Existing research has predominantly addressed technical recycling feasibility, material recovery and individual policy mechanisms, giving comparatively less attention to the cross-domain interfaces and interdependencies among the technical, governance, economic and reverselogistics conditions that determine whether EOL materials can move through coordinated recovery pathways and re-enter productive use. This paper addresses these interactions by developing a four-gap typology comprising interacting technical, governance, economic and reverse-logistics gaps that can inhibit material loop closure in Australian PV EOL management. The typology is developed through an integrative literature synthesis, informed by a Systems-of-Systems (SoS) perspective, and is illustrated using two structurally distinct Australian PV EOL environments: the remote context of Uterne Solar Farm in the Northern Territory (NT), and the utility-scale, National Electricity Market (NEM)-connected context of Metz Solar Farm in New South Wales (NSW). These environments are used as structural illustrations in site application rather than as like-for-like comparative case studies. The analysis finds that loop closure cannot be explained by a single technical, policy, economic or logistical deficiency; the four gap dimensions interact to produce structural disconnections between material recovery, decisionmaking, economic incentives and reverse-logistics pathways, locating PV EOL vulnerabilities at the level of systems architecture and interfaces with limited public information compounding all four. Show more