Green Processes in Solar Panel Manufacturing: Raw Materials, Environmental Challenges and Regulatory Pathways for Sustainable Production

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a cornerstone of the global energy transition, yet its environmental performance must be assessed across the full product life cycle, particularly the manufacturing stage, which involves significant consumption of silicon, metals, water, and chemicals, generating pollutant emissions, wastewater, and industrial waste. This study employs an interdisciplinary analytical framework combining life cycle assessment (LCA) principles and comparative regulatory analysis. The technical component examines the main PV manufacturing stages raw material extraction, chemical processing, water consumption, and waste generation while the legal component conducts a comparative analysis of environmental impact assessment procedures and sustainability regulatory frameworks across selected jurisdictions. Findings confirm that PV technologies deliver substantial carbon emission reductions over their operational lifetime; however, certain manufacturing stages generate notable environmental pressures, with silicon purification alone accounting for considerable energy and chemical inputs. Adoption of clean production methods, circular economy principles, and end-of-life material recovery technologies can reduce manufacturing environmental impacts by up to 40%, and regulatory instruments such as the EU Circular Economy Action Plan demonstrate measurable effectiveness in improving industrial environmental compliance. A genuinely sustainable energy transition requires not only deployment of renewable technologies but also the greening of their manufacturing processes; this study proposes that integrating process-level innovations with robust environmental governance frameworks offers a concrete pathway to reducing the ecological footprint of the PV industry.