A Massive US Solar Panel Maker Just Went All In On Panel Recycling [update]

Thanks to a new partnership, solar panels produced at the largest silicon solar panel factory in the United States will now be recycled.

February 15: It's been a great week for solar recycling company SOLARCYCLE. After announcing a partnership with solar panel maker Qcells on Monday, the company announced the opening of its first factory in the U.S. to produce new solar glass from recycled materials.

Simply put, SOLARCYCLE will recycle old solar panels, produce new solar glass and sell them to US solar manufacturers.

The $344 million plant will be built in Cedartown, Polk County, Georgia. SOLARCYCLE will be one of the leading manufacturers of specialty crystalline silicon (c-Si) glass in the United States. The company will have the capacity to produce 5 to 6 gigawatts (GW) of solar glass per year.

Construction is scheduled for this year and is expected to be commissioned in 2026. It is planned to create more than 600 new full-time jobs.

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February 12: The recently announced solar panel recycling agreement between Qcells and SOLARCYCLE is the first partnership between a leading solar panel manufacturer and a state-of-the-art solar cell recycler in the United States.

Qcell's recycled panel materials, such as aluminum, silver, copper and silicon, as well as low-iron glass, are reused in the home supply chain to produce the next generation of environmentally friendly energy products. SOLARCYCLE claims its patented solar panel recycling technology saves over 95% of the cost of the panel. That's high performance by today's solar recycling industry standards: First Solar, the largest US solar company, says it can recover 90% of its value.

With a production capacity of 8.4 gigawatts (GW) this year and the creation of 4,000 jobs, the Qcells factory in Dalton, Georgia, is the largest silicon-based solar module factory in the United States. This plant is also the first solar panel factory built after the Anti-Inflation Act was passed.

In January 2023, the Seoul-based company announced it would invest more than $2.5 billion in the first U.S. solar supply chain in Georgia, the largest investment to date in U.S. solar manufacturing. This includes the expansion of the Dalton Solar Plant and the construction of a fully integrated solar supply chain plant in Cartersville, Georgia, which will manufacture solar cells, wafers, cells and modules.

Suvi Sharma, CEO and founder of SOLARCYCLE, said, "Given the presence of Qcells in commercial and residential solar facilities across the United States, the impact of today's partnership announcement is quite significant."

SOLARCYCLE currently has recycling facilities in Odessa, Texas and Mesa, Arizona, and has signed long-term partnerships with 40 of the largest solar energy companies in the United States.

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