Our environmental impact
At Midsummer we take great care to minimize our negative impact on the climate and environment. Our product value chain is developed to be both resource-saving and, to the greatest extent possible, powered by renewable energy. The entire value chain and its environmental impact are described below.
Our value chain and its environmental impact
We own the entire value chain from product development to installation at the customer’s site, and we work to continuously improve and make our value chain more efficient and sustainable. We aim to minimise our negative climate and environmental impact and have developed the value chain to be resource-saving and, as far as possible, powered by renewable energy. Because of the lower material usage and an energy efficient production process, our carbon footprint per installed kWh is dramatically decreased compared to conventional solar panels, by up to 90%.
Development
Our footprint in the development phase is the waste that is produced during the iterative development process. In return, we develop products that are highly energy efficient and consume minimal energy and resources in production. Our solar cell production machines are used to conduct research on next generation solar cells both internally and at universities.
Procurement
The largest portion of our emissions comes from the input materials that makes up the solar panel. Materials are mined and refined before being used in our production. These processes require energy, which emits CO2 in different parts of the world. The most relevant raw materials for the solar cell production process are silver, stainless steel, molybdenum, copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. The raw materials that are most relevant for the manufacturing process of the solar panels are various types of polymers and diodes.
Materials are mainly sourced from suppliers in Europe, US, China, and Japan. We carefully choose our suppliers with the ambition to build long-lasting partnerships in compliance with our ambitious social and environmental standards. We expect suppliers to do their utmost to reduce their climate impact, improve their technology, ensure ethical and fair working conditions, be an active and law-abiding part of a positive community development and to counteract all forms of corruption. All our suppliers commit and sign off to our Supplier Code of Conduct before signing any agreements with Midsummer.
Production
Our production process requires electricity and cooling water to produce our thin-film solar cells. Today, our production site runs on 100% renewable energy – which lowers the CO2 emissions during manufacturing, but it cannot be fully eliminated. We aim to minimise materials usage throughout our entire production process of solar cells and panels by optimising utilisation and recycling of raw materials and we continuously improve our production and product efficiency to reduce environmental impact.
Transportation
Our manufacturing depends on transport of raw materials, metals, electrical components and packaging materials from domestic and overseas suppliers. Our deliveries also entail transport to end customers. Through analysis of our flows, we are optimising our transport strategy to reduce our climate impact. Our products are thin and lightweight which enable them to be co-shipped with other goods by truck or train. We use sustainable and reusable packaging material and sustainable means of transport when possible.
Installation & Use
Installation of our products at customer site involves use of third-party mounting hardware such as cables and fastening systems. Installation can also imply hazardous work environments. By providing training to employees and contractors, we aim to ensure health and safety and increasing correct waste disposal. Given the lightweight and durable characteristics of Midsummer products, minimum amounts of materials are required for mounting and installation.
Recycling
As for all products, our solar panels have a certain life span. After reaching their end of life they are recycled, incinerated, or deposited in landfills to varying degrees. Midsummer products are mainly made up of polymer sheets and stainless steel. Today, roughly 70% of plastic waste is incinerated and can be used as energy in Sweden while 75% of the steel is recycled. We are collaborating with universities and waste management companies to ensure that our products do not end up in landfills in Sweden but are recycled to be reused as steel and plastics. The collaborations with universities also aims at increasing the know-how and developing technologies for recycling silver and indium from waste solar cells. In the future, we aim to collaborate with raw material suppliers to recycle and reuse a greater amount of our solar cells.
