Designing a digital platform to foster data-enhanced circular practices in the European solar industry

Enhanced data exchange among different actors and stages of the value chain (VC) is key to mastering the transition toward a circular solar industry. Data on in-use products and assets enable early assessments of the adequate circular strategy at the end of the first life cycle, which includes the reuse of photovoltaic (PV) modules in a second life cycle. In this context, digital platforms represent a proven technology to facilitate information exchange between different actors along the VC. However, digital platforms that are targeted specifically at fostering the circular economy (CE) the solar industry are under-researched. We apply Design Science Research to build and evaluate an artefact for a digital platform that enables collecting comprehensive PV data at different life cycle stages by involving different solar value chain stakeholders. Data enrichment is incentivized by two platform use cases that represent the outcome of our study: (i) an assessment schema (devised in collaboration with a third-party certifier) designed to gather information relevant to creating a digital product passport; and (ii) a photovoltaic reuse online marketplace designed to match the supply and demand for second life panels (supported by a standardized testing and repurposing infrastructure). Initial insights from Switzerland (our pilot area) pave the way for implementing the proposed concept. Future studies should investigate scalability to the European context.