Development of solar energy in Africa : A challenge in terms of resource availability and recycling.

Focusing on Africa, sun is a renewable resource, free of charge, without any dependency of supply from other countries but implying technologies to transform this resource into electricity. Photovoltaic panels are dedicated to this goal and present several advantages as the free cost of the fuel and no emissions during the production of electricity. These advantages are counterbalanced by the high amount of mineral resources needed, the lifetime of installations, the decreasing yield during operation years and the very limited recycling potential