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IEC TS 62994
Edition 1.0 2019-01
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATION
colour
inside
Photovoltaic (PV) modules through the life cycle – Environmental health and
safety (EH&S) risk assessment – General principles and nomenclature
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IEC TS 62994
Edition 1.0 2019-01
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATION
colour
inside
Photovoltaic (PV) modules through the life cycle – Environmental health and
safety (EH&S) risk assessment – General principles and nomenclature
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 27.160 ISBN 978-2-8322-6419-5
– 2 – IEC TS 62994:2019 © IEC 2019
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 Basic principles of EH&S risk assessment for the PV module . 9
4.1 Basic concepts . 9
4.2 Life cycle assessment (LCA) of PV . 10
4.2.1 Fundamentals . 10
4.2.2 Photovoltaics-specific aspects . 11
4.2.3 Life cycle inventory modelling aspects . 12
4.2.4 Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) . 16
4.2.5 Interpretation . 18
4.2.6 Reporting and communication . 19
4.3 Environmental and Health Risk Assessment (EHRA) of PV module . 20
4.3.1 Principle . 20
4.3.2 Process . 21
4.3.3 Risk assessment and risk management . 24
4.3.4 Risk assessment of PV related equipment . 24
4.4 EH&S management system . 25
4.4.1 General . 25
4.4.2 EH&S Policy . 26
4.4.3 Planning . 26
4.4.4 Implementation and operation . 27
4.4.5 Checking . 27
4.4.6 Management review . 27
4.4.7 End of life management . 28
Annex A (informative) Sources for LCA and EHRA for PV . 29
A.1 Sources for LCA of PV . 29
A.2 Sources for EHRA for PV . 29
Bibliography . 30
Figure 1 – Product system of electricity produced with photovoltaic modules . 7
Figure 2 – Contribution of risk assessment to the risk management process . 24
Figure 3 – Environmental management system model . 25
Table 1 – Impact categories and indicators . 16
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) MODULES THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE –
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (EH&S) RISK ASSESSMENT –
General principles and nomenclature
FOREWORD
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Technical specifications are subject to review within three years of publication to decide
whether they can be transformed into International Standards.
IEC TS 62994, which is a technical specification, has been prepared by IEC technical
committee 82: Solar photovoltaic energy systems.
– 4 – IEC TS 62994:2019 © IEC 2019
The text of this technical specification is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
82/1370/DTS 82/1504/RVDTS
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical specification can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
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• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
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INTRODUCTION
This Technical Specification establishes definitions of terms of environmental health and
safety (EH&S) risk assessment and also basic principles and general methods for the EH&S
risk assessment for the PV module through its life cycle.
EH&S risk assessment is a method to characterize and evaluate potential adverse impacts to
human health or environment in order to develop policies to control and reduce them.
Although PV technologies have environmental advantages over conventional energy
technologies, PV modules can contain some hazardous materials. Therefore, EH&S risk
assessment of PV modules is very important for the safe and sustainable manufacture, use,
and end-of-life treatment of PV modules.
Though there are many standards relating to EH&S and risk assessment, there is no
published IEC standard for the EH&S risk assessment of the PV module at present.
This technical specification was developed in cooperation with IEA PVPS task 12
(PV Environmental, Health and Safety Activities). The objectives of the task are to ‘quantify
the environmental profile of PV in comparison to other energy technologies’ and ‘to define and
address EH&S and sustainability issues that are important for PV market growth’. IEA PVPS
task 12 and IEC TS 62994 Project team had joint meetings and established a liaison officer to
work on this technical specification on the EH&S for the PV.
– 6 – IEC TS 62994:2019 © IEC 2019
PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) MODULES THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE –
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (EH&S) RISK ASSESSMENT –
General principles and nomenclature
1 Scope
This document specifies definitions of terms and introduces evaluation methods for EH&S risk
assessment for the PV module over th
...