First Solar Panels Questioned For Safety Reasons (FSLR)

Shares of First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) have bounced back and forth recently, due to a variety of different problems. Now it is facing a new challenge, in the form of the safety of their solar panels Barron's writes.

First Solar's panels use cadmium-tellurium technology while its competitors use silicon wafers. The company has done tests to show that cadmium, a highly toxic metal, is safely sealed in glass. First Solar also runs a voluntary program that will take back the panels at the end of their life span, about 30 years.

Some of their silicon-panel rivals have argued for the treatment of First Solar products as hazardous waste. On Wednesday, July 28, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is going to hold a workshop in Sacramento to discuss how solar panels should be exempt from California's hazardous-waste category. A non-profit group concerned about the toxicity of cadmium released a study last Thursday, that claims that cadmium-tellurium panels crushed in a landfill would leak the cadmium at levels exceeding the levels allowed by California law. In the lab, the samples were crushed and soaked in a mildly acidic solution, designed to replicate the liquid runoff in a typical landfill. As a result, the levels of cadmium were almost three times the threshold considered to be hazardous.

There have been other studies done that under realistic conditions, the cadmium-based panels did not release the toxic substance at dangerous levels. One of these studies was sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy.

Vasilis M. Fthenakis, a scientist at Brookhaven National Lab and an engineering professor at Columbia University says it is nothing new that putting solar panels in a landfill is a questionable practice. "All types of modules will fail those tests," he says of the recent study. "We don't advocate for any photovoltaics to be thrown into landfills. We advocate for all photovoltaic panels to be recycled."

First Solar shares are currently trading at $139.08, down 91 cents so far in early trading.

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