Photovoltaic waste
End-of-life solar panels carry silicon in their wafers, silver in their cell metallisation and antimony in their glass. Today they are shredded for glass and aluminium, and the rest is lost.
Europe’s semiconductor industry relies heavily on critical raw materials that face increasing supply risks. WISER develops circular and traceable value chains to recover antimony, silicon and silver from secondary resources and convert them into semiconductor-grade materials.
Programme
Horizon Europe
Running
May 2026 – Apr 2030
Consortium
12 partners, 10 countries
Demonstrations
8 technologies at TRL 6–7
WISER does not open a new mine. It goes to material that has already been dug, used and discarded — and takes back what the semiconductor industry needs.
End-of-life solar panels carry silicon in their wafers, silver in their cell metallisation and antimony in their glass. Today they are shredded for glass and aluminium, and the rest is lost.
Historic asbestos mining left tailings rich in silica. Recovering it turns a legacy remediation liability into a feedstock, and opens a critical-material route between Canada and Europe.
Geothermal plants precipitate silica as an operating nuisance. Purified, that same silica becomes a feedstock for metallurgical-grade silicon — a by-product turned into supply.
Every gram WISER recovers has a documented origin. These are the routes the consortium is building.
Sb 51
Antimony enters the chain inside the glass of end-of-life photovoltaic panels, where it was originally added as a fining agent. COMET and NTNU co-develop the hydrometallurgical process that separates it from the glass matrix and validate it at pilot scale.
IKZ Berlin then grows the recovered antimony into indium antimonide crystals — a compound semiconductor used in infrared detection and high-speed electronics.
Si 14
Silicon reaches WISER by three separate roads. Université de Sherbrooke recovers high-purity silica from asbestos mining residues at above 99 % purity. NTUA purifies precipitated silica from geothermal resources. Kore Metals validates a low-carbon electrochemical route to silicon metal at 3–4N from secondary raw materials including recycled glass.
NTNU reduces the refined feedstocks to metallurgical-grade silicon by aluminothermic reduction. IKZ Berlin grows Czochralski crystals — using magnetic fields to suppress oxygen and carbon impurities — and Topsil GlobalWafers takes ingots through to wafers for power semiconductor applications.
Ag 47
Silver sits in the metallisation printed onto photovoltaic cells. COMET and NTNU co-develop the hydrometallurgical process that extracts it from the silicon fraction, and validate the result at pilot scale.
It is a contact metal the semiconductor industry depends on, and one that is currently written off when panels are recycled for their glass and aluminium alone.
This is the end of the chain.
Not a recovered powder with a purity certificate — an electronic-grade wafer, evaluated against the requirements of the power semiconductor market. Illustrative image.
Four stages. Each one names what enters it, what happens inside, and what leaves.
Stage 01
Stage 02
Stage 03
Stage 04
Enters · Secondary raw materials
End-of-life photovoltaic panels, asbestos mining residues and geothermal water residues, sourced across partner countries.
Happens
COMET leads sourcing and mechanical recovery. Recma improves the efficiency, safety and ergonomics of panel dismantling, investigating automatic size detection, assisted carrying and automated aluminium collection.
Leaves
Separated glass, silicon and metal fractions, plus silica-bearing residues, with projected volumes assessed across partner countries.
Enters · Purification
Recovered fractions and silica-bearing residues from stage one.
Happens
Université de Sherbrooke produces high-purity silica from asbestos residues. NTUA optimises purification of precipitated geothermal silica. Kore Metals validates silicon metal at 3–4N. NTNU applies aluminothermic reduction to reach metallurgical-grade silicon.
Leaves
Semiconductor-bound feedstocks: high-purity silica, metallurgical-grade silicon, recovered antimony and silver.
Enters · Ingoting & wafering
Purified silicon feedstock and recovered antimony.
Happens
IKZ Berlin runs Czochralski crystal growth and wafering for silicon and indium antimonide, developing magnetic-field approaches to reduce oxygen and carbon impurities. Topsil GlobalWafers contributes float-zone expertise and wafers the ingots.
Leaves
Crystals and wafers evaluated against the requirements of the power semiconductor market.
Enters · Qualification, security & LCA
Wafers, and samples drawn from every preceding step.
Happens
CSEM develops surface passivation and characterisation for ultra-high-quality electronic-grade wafers, plus authentication and traceability methods, and leads environmental and social life cycle assessment. Advanced Isotopic Analysis applies isotopic analysis across the chain. PowerShift carries the results into policy.
Leaves
Qualified electronic-grade material with a verifiable provenance record and an assessed environmental and social footprint.
Projected targets over the project’s four years, as stated in the WISER factsheet.
up to
75 %
of Europe’s future demand covered
up to
50 %
lower production costs
€4 bn
annual production cost savings
15 Mt
of CO2 emissions avoided
350
new jobs created
8
technologies demonstrated at TRL 6–7
Research institutes, recyclers, a wafer manufacturer, an isotope laboratory and a policy NGO — assembled so the chain does not break between stages.
Whether you supply secondary material, process it, or buy the wafer at the end — the consortium wants to hear from you.