CIRCUSOL brings together 15 partners from 8 different countries. The consortium consists of 5 research centres and universities, 9 industrial players from the PV and battery value chains, and 1 consultancy firm. The consortium is coordinated by VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research).
VITO is an independent research and technology organisation in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the large societal challenges of today. VITO has over 800 highly-qualified employees who work on international projects all around the world. This organisation combines sustainability and transition throughout its research programmes and it’s committed to maximise the valorisation of research results. It’s five main research areas are sustainable materials, sustainable energy, sustainable chemistry, sustainable land use and preventive health.
VITO is the project Coordinator and leads the "circular business model co-creation" work package. VITO also contributes to the development of battery certification protocols and energy user feedback tool.
www.iiiee.lu.se/the-international-institute-for-industrial-environmental-economics
BUAS is the largest state university for applied research performing a broad range of lecturing and R&D activities. BUAS carries out collaborative research projects with industry and public administrations, and play key roles in several European research projects, e.g. In Horizon 2020, Forwarder 2020, CPaaS.io (Coordinator), CANVAS. The interplay between faculties results in market-driven solutions in the fields of research, consultancy, coaching, evaluation, study preparation, training and further education. BUAS provides innovative and high-quality solutions, whereby large and small companies can gain a competitive advantage.
BUAS leads the "Eco-system analysis and simulation" work package. BUAS contributes to CIRCUSOL with ecosystem analysis, system simulation model, policy analysis and asset database ICT platform development.
IMEC is one of the largest independent R&D centres worldwide in the field of nano-electronics. The Silicon PV department focuses on c-Si wafer-based solar cells and modules and works on improving the efficiency, the industrial manufacturability, the recyclability, and the cost reduction of a few advanced PV technologies for the coming decade.
IMEC has acquired a very large experience on many types of solar cells and modules since its founding in 1984. In the last years, research has also focused on the recycling of end-of-life modules via the Horizon 2020 project Cabriss and on the reliability testing of different PV technologies.
IMEC is contributing within the CIRCUSOL project mainly to the technical aspects of PV. IMEC leads the task on the development of labelling and certification protocols for second life PV modules, contribute to cost and application analysis; and contribute to design for circularity technical solutions for PV modules.
Soli Tek R&D is a manufacturing company established in 2009 to set up production lines for fabrication of multicrystalline solar cells and glass-to-glass modules. The annual capacity of PV cells and modules is 70 MW. The company received a 2014 InterSolar award. Soli Tek R&D closely cooperates with leading PV manufacturers and research institutes in developing new products.
SOLITEK represents PV manufacturers in the consortium. SOLITEK leads the PV design for circularity task and provides input to other circular supply chain tasks such as the asset database.
SNAM is a French recycler with legal authorizations to process NiCd, NiMH, Li-Ion and alkaline batteries. SNAM processes production fillings and scrap as well. Progressive requirements regarding waste collection and environmental standards drive SNAM forward in its ambitions to develop its economic and environmental performance. More recently, it has developed an expertise on the production and sales of battery systems made of recycled materials, with the aim to address market needs in the field of stationary renewable energy.
SNAM’s main roles in the project are to supply remanufactured batteries electric vehicles, to lead cost and application analysis for second-life batteries, and to support CEA in developing labelling/certification protocol.
CEA is a public body established in October 1945. A leader in research, development and innovation. It is active in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defence and security, information technologies and health technologies. In each of these fields, CEA maintains a cross disciplinary culture of engineers and researchers, building on the synergies between fundamental and technological research.
CEA will be involved in the project through its Liten Institute, which is devoted to clean energy technologies and advanced materials. CEA Liten carries out R&D on behalf of industrial partners from a wide range of market segments: energy, land transportation, aerospace, construction, civil engineering, environmental, and IT industries, amongst others.
CEA leads the "Circular supply chain development" work package in the project. CEA oversees the task of developing labelling/certification protocols for second life batteries and is involved in demonstration activities related to second life batteries.
ECOPOWER was founded in 1992 as a cooperative company under Belgian law. The organisation has three main goals: To invest in renewable energy; to supply 100% green electricity to its cooperative members and to promote rational use of energy, renewable energy and the cooperative business model in general. By the end of 2016 Ecopower was a citizen’s cooperative with over 50.000 cooperative members, close to 200.000 shares and 45.000 customers. The latter corresponds to about 1,5 % of the Flemish household market.
ECOPOWER leads the "Large-scale demonstrators" work package and leads the Demo REScoop PV. It also plays a key role in replication potential assessment and planning, via it’s REScoop.eu network.
It’s a non-profit member-based organization, PV CYCLE offers both collective and tailor-made waste management and legal compliance services for companies and waste holders around the world. Founded in 2007 by and for the PV industry, PV CYCLE today includes a broad range of electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, packaging and industrial waste in its portfolio.
PV CYCLE contributes as a facilitator towards the recycling and waste management industry and experts in organising the collection and shipment of discarded PV Panels. It provides second-life PV modules for the testing and demonstrators. It will also contribute within the dissemination of the results of the project towards policy makers.
Is an electricity generator and distributor as well as a distribution system operator. It is expanding its activities into the infrastructure engineering and service-provider sectors. Its business covers a large portion of the energy-related value chain. This is the reason why BKW has identified the potential for a synchronized large-scale integration of rooftop PV into the whole electricity system more quickly than less-integrated companies have.
BKW leads Demo Scaling PSS and shares experience with Demo Waasland and REScoop PV.
Futech is an organization dedicated to the installation of photovoltaic installations. The Belgium based company distinguishes itself from other PV installers in the market by its engineering approach. The company does not limit itself to installing solar panels on roofs but approaches each concept as a whole. Since the company was founded in 2008, Futech installed more than 15.000 PV installations, equivalent with an installed power of more than 120 MW.
SunCrafter is a family-owned cleantech business located in Berlin. SunCrafter´s expertise is based in many years of experience in solar maintenance as well as the construction of off-grid solar charging stations and generators for various purposes, ranging from solar home systems for rural communities to phone charging stations for events in Europe.
SunCrafter‘s unique upcycling technology turns decommissioned photovoltaic panels into powerful low-voltage plug & play solar generators, making clean energy access available wherever needed.
SunCrafter’s task in the context of Circusol is to demonstrate the economic and environmental viability of second-life PV by integrating decentralised off-grid solar charging stations into urban landscapes, thus paving a new and cleaner way to power e-mobility and smart city infrastructures.
It is a group of independent consultants specialised in a wide range of fields related to the design and building of any type of architectural or industrial development. Specialities range from acoustics, building physics and physics of urban design, noise control, and environmental technology to fire safety, sustainability and the optimisation of working conditions.
DAIDALOS leads Demonstrator Waasland and represents (residential) end-user in the consortium.
It is a Spanish SME having a wide experience in supporting entities in the management of their RTD and innovation activities, as well as in technology transfer projects and activities. It currently provides, on a contract basis, consultancy services related to RTD and innovation management. As part of its services, ZABALA is specialized in providing service to public administrations in the definition of new support innovation tools and in supporting the exploitation of R&D results in regional, national and European projects. Since 2006, ZABALA is the coordinator of the Secretariat of the European Technology Platform for Electricity Network of the Future (ETIP-SNET).
ZABALA leads the communication activities in cooperation with LUND and provides the Project Office support to the project coordinator, VITO. Furthermore, ZABALA will provide coaching in business plans development.
LuxChemtech GmbH was established in 2019 and taking over all assets of Loser Chemie GmbH in 2020. Presently the company has 18 employees. Activities remain for a large part similar to those of Loser Chemie but have a more specific focus on: Production of alloys and special alloys based on silicon; Analyses in the ppb range by means of glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS); Further development of methods for non-destructive treatment of used solar modules and other layered devices; Production, crystallization and re-melting of silicon blocks and production of silicon shaped parts; Mechanical treatment, etching and cleaning of silicon and other hard-brittle metals; Production of special and fine chemicals; Development and use of new recycling technologies for rare elements with strategic importance (semiconductors, alloys, mixed oxides,…); Consultation for water treatment, production of auxiliaries for water treatment and new recycling technologies; Production of nanoparticles such as nano-silver, nano-copper and nano-silicon.
LuxChemtech represents PV recycler in the consortium. It is a key participating partner for the design for circularity task and will provide input as a potential user group for the asset database ICT platform. It will also contribute to the system simulation model development with knowledge/network in the German PV industry.