No EU or Portuguese law orders working solar panels destroyed, yet in 2023 EU countries reported only about 142 of the 58,474 tonnes of panels they collected as prepared for re-use, and Portugal reused none of its 328 tonnes. Meanwhile 655 million people had no electricity in 2024. The waste label, a recycling target that shredding meets, per-panel export tests and the price of testing make shredding the cheapest legal exit.
On 24 September 2026, at an energy trade fair at Exponor in Matosinhos, near Porto, an exhibitor told us they were about to throw away a large batch of solar panels and asked if we wanted to come and take them. In 2024, 655 million people had no electricity [1]. Is Europe destroying panels that still work while those people wait? The honest answer is more uncomfortable than a scandal. No law in Portugal or the EU orders working panels to be destroyed. But a discarded panel is legally waste, the recycling target can be met by shredding alone, exporting a used panel needs a test record for every unit, and the test costs more than the panel sells for. Nobody is forced to shred, at least not before December 2027 [2]. The system simply makes shredding the cheapest legal exit.
Key facts
- 655 million people had no electricity in 2024, 86% of them in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. The IEA's own count is 730 million [3].
- Close to 1 billion people depend on health facilities with no electricity or unreliable electricity [4].
- In 2023, EU countries collected about 58,474 t of waste solar panels and reported about 142 t prepared for re-use, roughly 0.24% (our sum of Eurostat data) [5].
- Portugal collected 328 t that year, recycled 245 t and prepared 0 t for re-use [5].
- Panels removed early, for example in a repowering, can still deliver "90% or more" of their original output [6].
- 86.6% of the value of Portugal's solar module imports came from China in 2024 [7].
What we saw at the fair
First-hand observation from one afternoon, not a survey. We have not verified what exhibitors told us.
Panels with nowhere to go. An energy and construction contractor told us a large decommissioning was coming, something like 250 MW of installed panels, and that they would simply throw the panels away. Their offer was blunt: come and take them. A solar installer had panels standing idle and did not know what to do with them. We did not see those panels or check their condition, and the 250 MW figure is theirs, not ours. Nobody mentioned a law forcing them to destroy anything. They seemed to have no buyer and no next step.
Distributors, not makers. The biggest solar stands belonged to distributors selling mostly Chinese-made goods. One wall of logos listed AIKO, Trina Solar, Huawei and Solis. A few stands carried German and Austrian brands.
Family firms. Many of the exhibitors we spoke to were family businesses. One founder told us the business has thousands of clients and that their children are already taking over.
Our argument is simple. About 200 million people still light their homes mainly with kerosene, oil or diesel lamps [1], and many clinics in Africa and South Asia have no reliable power [8], while in Europe panels that may still work are handed in to be shredded. The rest of this article checks how much of that holds up.
Why do working panels end up shredded in Europe?
Not because a law says so. Four rules and one price gap push in the same direction.
A discarded panel is waste, whatever its condition. EU law defines waste as anything its holder "discards or intends or is required to discard" [9], and solar panels fall under the e-waste (WEEE) directive [10]. A panel handed in after a repowering, a warranty swap or a storm becomes e-waste on the spot. It becomes a product again only through "preparing for re-use" by a licensed operator [9]. Portugal reported none in any year from 2019 to 2023 [5].
The target does not tell reuse from recycling. The directive asks for 80% "prepared for re-use and recycled", one combined figure [10]. Shredding meets it. The Commission's own 2025 evaluation notes there are "no binding minimum treatment requirements" for PV panels [11].
Exporting a used panel needs a record for every panel. Annex VI of the directive requires a functionality test and a record for each item, an invoice stating it is fully functional, and protective packaging. Without them, the load is presumed an illegal waste shipment [10]. Since January 2025 every e-waste export also needs the destination country's prior consent [12]; from 21 May 2027, non-hazardous waste may go to non-OECD countries only if they are on an EU list [13].
The test costs more than the panel. New mainstream modules sold for about €0.10 to €0.13 per watt between December 2025 and September 2026 [14]; used ones were listed at €0.024 to €0.042 on SecondSol, a European trading platform, in September 2026 [15]. For a 400-watt panel that is roughly €10 to €17 used against €40 to €52 new (our arithmetic). The founder of 2nd Life Solar in Hamburg has said that by the time an old module is tested, you have already spent more than it is worth [16].
From December 2027, one rule will require destruction. Under the EU Forced Labour Regulation, which applies from 14 December 2027, banned products made with forced labour must be recycled or, where that is not possible, rendered inoperable. Only perishable goods may be donated [2]. This is the only legal duty to destroy functional panels we found, and it is not yet in force.
How much is at stake?
The official numbers are small, and that is the point.
| Solar panels, 2023 | EU (sum of reporting states) | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Placed on the market | about 3,334,694 t | 52,809 t |
| Collected as waste | about 58,474 t | 328 t |
| Prepared for re-use | about 142 t | 0 t |
| Share of collected waste reused | about 0.24% | 0% |
Source: Eurostat WEEE statistics for PV panels; EU totals and shares are our calculation [5].
Panels sold in 2023 will not be waste for decades, so this is not a collection rate. It shows how little of what comes back is reused. France, with a dedicated reuse line, reuses about 1% and aims for 5 to 7% [17].
Volumes are rising. Portugal had 7,326 MW of solar capacity by July 2026 [18]. Electrão collected 3,356 t of panels in the first half of 2026 alone, mostly after storms in central Portugal [19].
How many still work? The IEA's photovoltaic research programme (IEA-PVPS) says there is "little to no real-life data" [6]. After triage, reusable shares range from a little over 10% for modules with cracks or solder faults to up to 95% where only a bypass diode failed [6].
What goes wrong with exports?
"Send them to Africa" has been tried, badly. PV CYCLE, the industry's take-back scheme, says panels in good working condition are resold, reinstalled elsewhere, or shipped illegally outside Europe [20]. That is the strongest counter-evidence to what we heard at the fair: some working panels leak out before the shredder. In 2020, Italy's Operation BlackSun found panels sent for recycling that had been relabelled and exported as used goods to seven countries [21]. A 2026 comment in Nature Communications describes an "uncontrolled accumulation" of imported second-hand panels in Nigeria and says exported refurbished modules often lose 10 to 20% of their power [22]. Nigeria also has the world's largest electricity deficit, 87 million people [1]. Untested panels with no end-of-life plan are not aid. They are waste arriving late.
What would make second life work?
No new technology. The panel has to stay a product, with proof that it works.
- Test before discarding. A panel tested at decommissioning or at the distributor never becomes waste. IEA-PVPS sets out a practical triage: visual inspection, I-V curve tracing, infrared and electroluminescence imaging, insulation checks and lab sampling [6].
- A record for every panel. Measured watts, images and insulation results, attached to the panel. That is what Annex VI asks for [10].
- A warranty and a clear owner of the risk. Under the new EU product liability directive, whoever substantially modifies a product is liable as its manufacturer [23].
- Money for the gap. In France, the national take-back scheme Soren runs a reuse line with the social enterprise ENVIE 2E Aquitaine, backed by a €3 million reuse fund for 2023 to 2027 [17].
- Buyers who need small, cheap power. 2nd Life Solar sells tested modules at a third to a half of the new price to commercial buyers, NGOs and North African distributors [24].
Clinics and schools are the obvious destination. The WHO puts the cost of electrifying health facilities at USD 4.9 billion [4], and more than half of primary schools in the least developed countries have no electricity [25]. We have not found a European programme sending tested second-life panels to clinics or schools at scale. One that does it right would ship documented panels to a named installer, size them to the building's real load, and arrange take-back in the destination country.
Who sells solar in Portugal?
The trade data matches what we saw. China supplied 86.6% of the value of Portugal's module imports in 2024 (91.0% by weight) [7], and 98% of the EU's [26]. Portugal is largely a transit hub, not a maker: it exported €578.6 million of modules in 2024, 91.5% of that value to Spain [7]. IEA-PVPS calls the Portuguese PV industry "predominantly service-oriented" [27]. Importers, distributors and installers are the ones left holding panels at the end.
Most of them are small. SMEs make up 99.9% of Portuguese enterprises and 77.1% of employment [28]. The oft-quoted figure that family firms are 70 to 80% of Portuguese companies is an unmeasured estimate: the 2008/2009 European Commission study behind it labelled it experts' opinion [29], and the Portuguese family business association repeats it without a method [30]. The founder we met is one person, not a statistic. But firms like that one, which know their customers and install for a living, are the natural place for testing and resale as the next generation takes over.
What can GETMILK do?
GETMILK maps manufacturers producing in Portugal. We do not test or refurbish panels. What we can do is modest:
- Map who can test and prepare panels for re-use in Portugal and nearby: licensed treatment operators, test labs and refurbishers, with evidence for each.
- Connect certified second-life supply to buyers, from an installer with panels in storage to an NGO equipping clinics, through our managed sourcing service.
- Put the paperwork together. A per-panel test record, the Annex VI documents and a warranty statement form a small technical data package.
If you hold, test or need used panels, talk to us. A panel that still works belongs on a roof or in a clinic, not in a shredder, and not dumped untested where it becomes someone else's waste.
References
- IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank and WHO. Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2026 (24 June 2026)
- EUR-Lex. Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market (2024)
- International Energy Agency (IEA). Access to electricity stagnates, leaving globally 730 million in the dark (9 October 2025)
- World Health Organization (WHO). Close to one billion people globally are served by health-care facilities with no electricity access or with unreliable electricity (14 January 2023)
- Eurostat. Waste electrical and electronic equipment by waste management operations: photovoltaic panels (env_waseleeos) (updated 8 April 2026)
- IEA PVPS. Performance and Reliability Aspects of 2nd Life PV Modules (IEA-PVPS T13-37:2026) (February 2026)
- Eurostat Comext. EU trade by CN8 (DS-045409): photovoltaic modules, CN 8541 43 00, Portugal (updated 15 September 2026)
- WHO, World Bank, IRENA and SEforALL. Energizing Health: Accelerating Electricity Access in Health-Care Facilities (January 2023)
- EUR-Lex. Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (Waste Framework Directive), consolidated text (18 February 2024)
- EUR-Lex. Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), consolidated text (8 April 2024)
- European Commission. SWD(2025) 184: evaluation of the WEEE Directive (2 July 2025)
- Secretariat of the Basel Convention. E-waste amendments: overview (viewed September 2026)
- EUR-Lex. Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 on shipments of waste (2024)
- pvXchange. pvXchange Price Index and monthly market analyses (December 2025 to September 2026)
- SecondSol. SecondSol marketplace, used module listings (viewed 27 September 2026)
- QUASAR (EU research project). The economic and climate case for second-life PV modules (26 August 2025)
- pv magazine France. Réemploi des panneaux solaires : Soren amorce la structuration d'une filière (18 June 2025)
- DGEG, Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia. Estatísticas Rápidas das Renováveis n.º 260 (July 2026)
- Electrão. Electrão envia para reciclagem 24 mil toneladas de eléctricos no primeiro semestre e expande rede de recolha (July 2026)
- PV CYCLE. Annual Report 2025 (viewed September 2026)
- pv magazine. Italian PV panels sent for recycling were instead smuggled to Syria and Africa (5 February 2020)
- Huang and Long, Nature Communications 17:1928. Toward traceable global systems for end-of-life photovoltaic waste (19 February 2026)
- EUR-Lex. Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on liability for defective products (2024)
- Solarenergie-Förderverein Deutschland (SFV). Interview with 2ndlife Solar on saving modules from recycling (12 September 2023)
- United Nations. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026: Goal 4 (2026)
- Eurostat. EU trade in solar panels in 2024 (9 October 2025)
- IEA PVPS. Portugal: member country page (2025)
- European Commission. SME Country Fact Sheet Portugal 2026 (2026)
- European Commission and KMU Forschung Austria. Overview of Family-Business-Relevant Issues (2008/2009)
- AEF, Associação das Empresas Familiares. Quem somos (viewed September 2026)
Questions people ask
- Can used solar panels be reused?
- Yes, if each panel is tested first. Panels removed early, for example in a repowering, can still deliver 90% or more of their original output, but after triage the reusable share ranges from a little over 10% to 95% depending on the defect (IEA-PVPS, 2026). A reusable panel needs a visual check, an I-V curve, electroluminescence and insulation tests, and a written test record.
- Why are working solar panels destroyed?
- No EU or Portuguese law orders it. A panel becomes waste the moment its owner discards it, and the EU target for this category (80% prepared for re-use and recycled) can be met by recycling alone. Exporting a used panel needs a test record for every unit, and testing costs more than a used panel sells for, so shredding is the cheapest legal exit. From 14 December 2027, products banned under the EU Forced Labour Regulation must be recycled or made inoperable.
- How many people in the world have no electricity?
- 655 million in 2024, according to Tracking SDG7 2026; the IEA's own count is 730 million. About 86% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, and Nigeria has the largest deficit, 87 million people.
- Can I donate or export used solar panels to Africa?
- Only as a tested product. Under Annex VI of the WEEE Directive each panel needs a functionality test and a record, and the invoice must state that it is fully functional; otherwise the load is presumed an illegal waste shipment. Since January 2025, e-waste exports also need the destination country's prior consent. Untested second-hand panels are already piling up in Nigeria, so a responsible donation also needs a local installer and a take-back plan.
- Who collects end-of-life solar panels in Portugal?
- Licensed producer-responsibility schemes such as Electrão and ERP Portugal. In 2023 Portugal collected 328 t of solar panels, recycled 245 t and prepared none for re-use (Eurostat). Electrão alone collected 3,356 t in the first half of 2026, mostly after storms in central Portugal.