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Digital Product Passports for a Circular Solar Industry

The RETRIEVE demonstrator explores how structured product information can travel with photovoltaic modules across their lifecycle, connecting contributions from different organizations over time.

Explore the Demo What is a Digital Product Passport?
Photovoltaic modules above a mountain cabin in a snowy landscape

A passport that travels with the product

A Digital Product Passport links a physical product to a structured record of facts about it. Access to information depends on the product and the rules that apply.

Physical PV module

The physical module carries a unique identifier.

QR identifier

Scanning a QR code can open the linked digital record.

Digital Product Passport Version 7G25-250429-0267

Photovoltaic module

Identification

Module identifier
G25-250429-0267
Module type
BLACKSTAR B.108 435 W · v1
Manufacturer
SoliTek

Technical specifications

Nominal power
435 W
Cell type
N-type, bifacial, 108 cells
Dimensions
1722 × 1134 × 30 mm

Material composition

Aluminium frame, glass, solar cells and copper ribbons

Certification

Standards
IEC 61215 · IEC 61730
Certificate
TES123456 · valid to 01.10.2028

Lifecycle events

  • Manufacturing
  • Quality inspection
  • Packaging and shipping
  • Installation

Digital Product Passport

The DPP provides structured information about the product throughout its lifecycle.

Read more about the DPP

Information created today is needed decades later

A solar module is designed, certified, installed and maintained by different organizations over a long service life. The details that decide whether it can be reused or recycled are often lost along the way.

Solid lines show demonstrator stages; dotted lines show anticipated research scenarios. Reuse and recycling workflows are not implemented.

  1. Manufacturing

    Module types, specifications, versions

  2. Certification

    Requests, decisions, applicability

  3. Installation

    Modules linked to plants, strings, positions

  4. Operation

    Energy, power and voltage data

  5. Maintenance

    Observations and confirmed findings

  6. Reuse

    Second-life assessment and transfer

  7. Recycling

    Material recovery at end of life

Follow a module through its lifecycle

What the demonstrator already does

The web application is used with demonstration data. Each view below is a real screenshot of the current software.

Demonstrator passport for module G25-250429-0267, version 7, showing its version history, circularity and module information, lifetime events and material passport.Demonstrator passport for module G25-250429-0267, version 7, showing its version history, circularity and module information, lifetime events and material passport.
Demonstrator view · module passportDemo data

Published contributions become passport versions

Defined workflow steps publish a new version: a commissioned installation, a confirmed maintenance finding or an approved certificate. Routine edits and performance data do not. Earlier versions stay readable.

A validation check shows whether a passport still matches its stored snapshot. It confirms integrity, not that the original product information is accurate.

See all platform features

Explore the demonstrator

View an example passport

Open a public example without signing in. The information available can vary between records.

View example passport

Explore the web application

Partners with an account can use role-specific views in the authenticated application.

Explore the Demo

The RETRIEVE project

RETRIEVE works on circularity in the photovoltaic value chain. Bern University of Applied Sciences contributes Digital Product Passport research and this software demonstrator.

Project homepage ↗   Project partners ↗

RETRIEVEBern University of Applied Sciences