“Shocking development:” Solar recycling plans in chaos as government cancels pilot tender process

Detailed summary

Federal government officially calls off the search for an administrator to run its long-promised solar recycling pilot, after it was brought it to a grinding halt six months ago.

The federal government has officially called off the search for an administrator to run its long-promised national solar recycling pilot, after a complaint about the settings of the procurement process brought it to a grinding halt nearly six months ago.

The Albanese government in January announced plans to run a $24.7 million PV recycling pilot program that would establish up to 100 collection sites across the country to deal with the increasingly urgent challenge of dealing with discarded rooftop solar panels, and ultimately household batteries.

The pilot, which aims to collect and recycle up to 250,000 panels over a 12-to-18-month period starting – and had intended to start by July – is designed to test the feasibility of collection, re-use and recycling of solar panels from a range of sources, to inform the creation of a national stewardship scheme.

In March, the government launched a procurement process to appoint a suitable partner to “arrange, manage, deliver, and report” on the National Solar Panel Recycling Pilot, but by mid-June, that process was suspended while the complaint was addressed.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) confirmed the latest twist to the saga on Thursday, after earlier issuing a public interest certificate on an obscure government website, and said it was now considering what to do with the scheme as a whole.

“Following consideration of changes in the industry since the release of the [approach to market], a decision was made to cancel the procurement without the award of a contract,” the update on the pilot website says.

“The Government is now considering next steps for the National Solar Panel Recycling Pilot.”

The update brings little relief to an industry that is ready and waiting to get to the increasingly urgent task of managing Australia’s growing piles of solar waste – and using them as a basis for a potentially resource-rich circular economy.

It also sheds no light on exactly why the…

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