Análisis de Ciclo de Vida – ACV e Índices de Sostenibilidad Ambiental como Herramientas de Evaluación Ambiental de Paneles Solares del Proyecto “Parque Solar Fotovoltaico Guayepo 400 MW, su Línea de Evacuación 500 kV y Bahía de Conexión”

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) establishes the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the seventh goal states that energy must be clean and accessible for all. The term "clean energy" is associated with renewable (RE), green, or sustainable energy, related to low environmental impact technologies. However, REs present identifiable negative impacts mainly through the use of tools such as Environmental Impact Assessment – EIA and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This study aimed to evaluate the environmental sustainability of the Guayepo 400 MW Photovoltaic Solar Park project, its 500 kV evacuation line, and connection bay through the application of LCA and sustainability indices such as carbon, water, and energy footprint for the stages of panel manufacturing (cradle) and end-of-life disposal or recycling (grave) of the photovoltaic components of the project. This work began with the analysis of the information from the Environmental Impact Assessment used to grant the Environmental License for the project. In this process, the focus was on the activities described in the EIA and the environmental impacts evaluated at each stage. This information allowed understanding the components that are part of the solar park. Based on this knowledge, a life cycle analysis was conducted following the guidelines established in ISO 14040 and using the SimaPRO software application. The generated information allowed determining the sustainability indices of the project, including those related to the manufacturing of solar panels. Within the sustainability indices, those related to water, carbon, and energy footprints were calculated, which were used to formulate the environmental impact assessment of solar panel manufacturing integrated into the evaluation of the case study project. Likewise, the analysis of the SimaPRO results and the sustainability indices of solar panel manufacturing were inputs in the methodology for assessing the environmental impacts of photovoltaic solar projects developed in the country, from their inception to dismantling and abandonment. From the obtained results, a water footprint of 0.35 m3 , a carbon footprint of 328.21 kTon CO2 eq, and an energy footprint of 536.28 GWh were obtained during the manufacturing phase of the solar panels (for the total number of panels required in the Guayepo solar park). These values were weighted to assess the significance of these environmental impacts and integrate them into the environmental assessment of the case study project, where the importance of the three indices was found to be irrelevant. The above allowed us to conclude that even when the manufacturing of solar panels is included in the environmental assessment, photovoltaic solar projects remain environmentally sustainable if preventive, mitigating, controlling, and compensating measures for the identified and evaluated environmental impacts are implemented.