Net Zero Water Withdrawal Strategies and Multicriteria Impacts for PV Manufacturing

Net zero water withdrawal is a sustainable development strategy for manufacturing in water-stressed locations. A case study in Tamil Nadu, India shows that sustainable net zero water withdrawal photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing can be achieved by a) utilizing on-site wastewater treatment and zero liquid discharge units to maximize the usage of onsite reclaimed water, b) using offsite reclaimed water to meet the remaining water demand, and c) implementing continuous improvement in water conservation. Net zero water can be combined with net zero electricity to reduce the life cycle water footprint of PV modules by ∼60% while also reducing the life cycle carbon footprint by ∼40%. While crucial for managing local water and energy resources, net zero strategies have a relatively small (∼20%) impact on reducing the total multicriteria product footprint. Adding a third strategy of high value recycling with semiconductor recovery can achieve up to ∼65% reduction in the multicriteria PV module product environmental footprint covering health, ecosystem, and natural resource impact categories.