SOPHIA project: increasing the reuse, repair and recycling rates of end-of-life solar panels

A field of solar panels
Date
11 Jul 2025
News type
New EU initiative
Sector
Circular design,
Construction, Buildings and Infrastructure,
Energy and waste-to-energy,
Recycling,
Repair, Refurbishment, Remanufacture, Repurpose,
Research
Scope
EU,
Coordination Group 2023-2025
Key Area
Production,
Waste management,
Secondary raw materials
SOPHIA project

Renewable sources of energy are increasingly important in the switch to zero carbon but converting solar energy to usable electricity takes equipment, which in turn requires materials which are in short supply. SOPHIA is an EU-funded Horizon Europe project that aims to implement advanced digital solutions in end-of-life solar panels, involving the full value chain in order to increase their current reuse, repair and recycling rates. The end goal is to foster a more circular, innovative and competitive Europe.

The project will focus on:

  • Assessing the panels: The 'state of health' of panels will be evaluated in order to establish whether they can be repaired or need to be recycled.
  • Repair and recycling: Panels which have at least 80% efficiency will be repaired using robot-assisted equipment and high-performance dielectric varnish. The rest will be recycled using innovative technologies to maximise the separation of their main components (glass, silicon & metals and plastics).
  • Designing panels for easy dismantling: The project will devise a new model of solar panel using eco-design principles, with debonding on-demand adhesives.
  • Ensuring traceability: A digital platform will be developed to implement Digital Product Passport (DPP) in new and repaired solar panels, as well as the collection of information to trace current panels without DPP. The DPP will make the panels and components more easily identifiable so that they can be repaired or recycled. This will increase the quality of the secondary raw materials obtained and reduce waste generation.
  • The repaired and eco-designed panels and upcycled fractions from end-of-life solar panels will be put up for sale on a specific marketplace, with a DPP system for each product.

The project began on 1 June 2025 and will run for 36 months. It is coordinated by AIMPLAS and managed with 14 partners across Europe: CIDETEC (ES), Fraunhofer (DE), WILOCK (ES), LHV (ES), SADAKO (ES), BIOSOLAR (NL), AKUMPT (BG), SISECAM (TR), FERROG (ES), IS (LT), Recyclia (ES), EuRIC (BE), CEPS (BE), ENCO (IT).