EUSEW 2024: project managed by HaDEA wins Innovation award

At the European Sustainable Energy Week 2024, Photorama project managed by HaDEA, received an award for its innovation.

The European Sustainable Energy Awards recognise outstanding projects for their achievements in energy efficiency and renewables. The EUSEW Innovation Award recognises outstanding ongoing or EU-funded projects that show an original and innovative path towards the clean energy transition as well as tangible results. The selection of the winner is in the hands of the public through an open voting process. 

The recipient of this year’s award is the PHOTORAMA project, managed by HaDEA!

We are very proud of the work achieved so far and expect to open the doors for high-value photovoltaic recycling in the future. Besides, it is also a very good opportunity to highlight the importance of the topic - photovoltaic circularity & recycling - and, more broadly, to raise public awareness. I would like to thank the European Union and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency for the funding and support. 
– Dr. Claire Agraffeil, Photorama Project Coordinator 

PHOTORAMA is paving the way for the recycling of millions of tonnes of old photovoltaic (PV) waste. This project is developing a circular model to reuse materials like glass, aluminium, copper, silver, indium and silicon from old solar panels. The results are promising: recycling approximately 1 200 tonnes of PV panels could potentially save over 3 800 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent accordingly to preliminary assessments. This is comparable to the emissions from nearly a thousand cars driven for a year. With millions of tonnes of PV waste expected, this solution could have a significant positive impact. 

PHOTORAMA enables the recycling of silver by mixing silver particles into pastes and inks. These can be reused in PV systems and other electronics like 3D printers. Indium can also be recycled and used to bind sputtering targets. Recycled silicon is particularly useful for cooling electronic devices. A pan-European project that received a €8.38 million grant under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, PHOTORAMA brings together 13 partners active in the PV value chain, from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Spain.

Relive the highlights and excitement of the EUSEW 2024 Awards Ceremony 

Background

Horizon 2020

the EU’s multiannual funding programme between 2014 and 2020. H2020 provided Research and Innovation (R&I) funding for multi-national collaboration projects alongside individual researchers and SMEs via special funding instruments. Horizon 2020 is succeeded by Horizon Europe Programme, which will run until 2027.