Alberta is introducing a recycling fee of CAN 14 on every new solar panel supplied in the province starting October 1. The provincial government says the money will be used to collect, transport and recycle panels once they reach end of life. The fee will not be applied retroactively to already-installed panels. A typical residential installation of 20 panels would raise CAN 280, which the government says is less than 1.5% of the overall installation cost.
The province has committed to working with the Alberta Recycling Management Authority and wider industry to build reuse and recycling capacity. Alberta says it has the second-largest installed solar capacity in Canada, with 95% of currently installed panels expected to reach end of life by 2045, generating as much as 72,700 tonnes of material. The province describes its solar panel recycling program as the first of its kind in North America. Grant Hunter, Alberta's Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, said the region is acting now to recover valuable materials, attract private investment and build a new recycling industry. RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Affordability and Utilities, added that the program will protect taxpayers from future clean-up costs.
The fee has drawn criticism from the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. Radha Rajagopalan, Director of Policy for Alberta, said the CAN 14 charge is more than five times the highest fee under Alberta's electronics recycling program and more than three times the cost indicated by the association's independent analysis. Rajagopalan warned that adding unnecessary costs to new renewable energy projects sends the wrong signal when Alberta needs more electricity. Alberta's latest update also rules out sending solar panels to landfill sites. Research published earlier this year found recycling a utility-scale solar module in the United States costs between $15 and $45, while landfill disposal costs between $1 and $5.
What remains unknown is how the fee will affect solar installation demand or whether the recycling infrastructure can scale quickly enough to handle the projected material volumes. The dossier does not specify how the CAN 14 amount was calculated beyond the industry association's claim that it exceeds independent cost estimates. It is also unclear whether other Canadian provinces or U.S. states will follow Alberta's approach, or how the ban on landfill disposal will be enforced.