Socio-economic analysis of CHEOPS technologies

Key Facts

Vigilance must be expected from industrialists to curb lead emissions to the environment.
High environmental and health benefits seem to be expected from a partial substitution of standard PV technologies by CHEOPS technologies.
The SEA considering the whole life cycle and 12 categories of impacts (human toxicity, climate change, land use…), this benefit amounts to around 29 k€/GWh of energy produced. (Having in mind that Europe produced 114 TWh of photovoltaic energy in 2016)

Abstract

Our work consisted in the sum and partial combination of 6 studies:

A life-cycle analysis made possible thanks to the data provided by academic and industrial partners.
A regulatory watch (including RoHS Directive, WEEE Directive and REACH Regulation).
A “risk analysis” providing hazard and exposure considerations, particularly with respect to lead.
Three normalised lixiviation tests to estimate potential leakage.
One firing test to assess the potential emission of noxious gases.
A cost benefit-analysis combining LCA results and economic valuation of impacts.

Impact

This study provides elements to understand the “lead issue”, which could a priori be considered as a major obstacle to the future development of the technology.

In a context where strategic priorities for the development of future energy sources are to identified, it is important to propose a global evaluation integrating the impacts (or externalities) that are generally not taken into account in the economic calculation : impacts on health and environment.

Involvement

The Socio-economic analysis of CHEOPS technologies was conducted by INERIS, SmartGreenScans and
Oxford PV Ltd.

Scientific Output

The result is described in more detail in the deliverable report D3.4 Socio-economic analysis of CHEOPS technologies and benchmarking, available for download under reports.

The socio-economic analysis was based on the life-cycle analysis of CHEOPS technologies. Please read more about this result here.