RA Environment Ministry issued a positive conclusion to the report on the environmental impact assessment of the construction of a solar photovoltaic power plant in the administrative territory of Talin Community in Aragatsotn Region submitted by "Dizapayt" LLC.
5 MW solar power plant will be located in an area of 8 hectares owned by "Dizapayt" LLC. The plant will have 11,700 monocrystalline panels. $ 3.5 million will be invested in the construction of the solar station, and the service life is 20 years. During that time, the plant will generate about 198.5 GWh of electricity.
The most vulnerable aspect of solar energy is the management of panel waste. Inga Zarafyan, President of EcoLur Informational NGO, raised this issue during the hearings held on October 19 in Talin community hall in Aragatsotn Region. "EcoLur" also sent its observations to the "Environmental Impact Assessment Center" SNCO, noting that the company should clarify the issue of waste, should present a detailed action plan related to the management of solar power plant, specifying the amount of waste generated and its storage conditions, minimization of damange, expected financial costs and liability.
Environment Ministry in its expert requirements listed the actions for waste management that the company presented in its report, which were mandatory for execution, “Panels containing photocells should not be buried or collected in open landfills, waste should be collected or stored outside residential areas, sold to other waste collection organizations, including foreign developed countries that have such expired waste recycling technologies, and handed over to organizations in those countries, which deal with the production of solar panels, from which photovoltaic solar panels were purchased, and after the expiration of the plant's operation, photovoltaic panels containing lead, chromium, cadmium, silicon and other materials are temporarily stored in the warehouse designated for that purpose by the entrepreneur.”
Neither the company report nor Environment Ministry's positive conclusion clearly specify the countries or companies that are to carry out hazardous waste management. Instead, the company report states that "in the Republic of Armenia, as well as in the developed countries of the world, there are still no solutions for solar power plant equipment, in particular panels containing photocells, and other accompanying parts as waste."
November 19, 2021 at 15:02