Cadmium Solar Panels

Workers may be exposed during smelting and refining of metals and manufacturing batteries plastics coatings and solar panels.

Cadmium solar panels.

Worker exposure to cadmium can occur in all industry sectors but mostly in manufacturing and construction. Cadmium telluride solar cells use low cost manufacturing technology to produce low cost cells. Cadmium telluride cdte is the most common type of thin film solar cell in production. Cadmium telluride pv is the only thin film technology with lower costs than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi kilowatt systems.

Cadmium is a heavy metal and extremely dangerous. Cadmium telluride cdte photovoltaics or also called cadmium telluride solar cell is a kind of photovoltaic pv technology that can produce electricity from sunlight using a thin film of compound cadmium telluride to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Thin film solar panels and toxicity cadmium telluride. Cdte thin film panels are made from several thin layers.

One main energy producing layer made from the compound cadmium telluride and surrounding layers for electricity conduction and collection. Solar panels often contain lead cadmium and other toxic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel. According to cancer biologist david h. Worse rainwater can wash many of these toxics out of the fragments of solar modules over time.

Approximately 90 of most pv modules are made up of glass. The most common cdte solar cells consist of a simple p n heterojunction structure containing a p doped cdte layer matched with an n doped cadmium sulfide cds layer which acts as a window layer. On a lifecycle basis cdte pv has the smallest carbon footprint lowest water use and shortest energy payback time of any current photo voltai. The debate over the toxic potential of thin film solar panels based on cadmium compounds has been reignited.

Cadmium telluride cdte is a commonly used material in thin film solar modules. Silicon tetrachloride a byproduct of producing crystalline silicon is also highly toxic. The company solyndra now. Cadmium telluride photovoltaics describes a photovoltaic technology that is based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.

Cadmium fumes may cause flu like symptoms and more severe respiratory problems. Cigs is another mainstream thin film technology. Copper indium gallium selenide cigs. The expanding ni cd battery recycling industry is a concern for cadmium exposure.

Nguyen phd toxic chemicals in solar panels include cadmium telluride copper indium selenide cadmium gallium di selenide copper indium gallium di selenide hexafluoroethane lead and polyvinyl fluoride.