SOLARCYCLE is set to add a 5 GW recycling facility in Cedartown, Ga., in partnership with Georgia’s governor, Brian P. Kemp.
The 255,000 square foot facility is slated to have the capacity to recycle and recover materials from 10 million solar panels per year, says the company. It is set to initially recycle 2 million solar panels annually and scale as the company meets growing market demand for end-of-life solar services and domestic solar supply.
The facility will be adjacent to SOLARCYCLE’s solar glass factory, announced in February.
“We are pleased to accelerate our work in Cedartown, Georgia in response to continued demand for solar recycling,” says Suvi Sharma, CEO and co-founder of SOLARCYCLE.
“By scaling recycling and solar glass manufacturing through a vertically integrated process, we are filling a critical gap in America’s solar supply chain and closing the loop for domestic solar manufacturing. We thank Governor Kemp and the Biden-Harris Administration for their success driving clean energy policy forward. Their leadership has made it possible for the industry to grow operations in the U.S. and bring good jobs and meaningful investment to local communities as a result.”
To support the acceleration and expansion of the SOLARCYCLE economy campus in Cedartown, the company welcomes Microsoft to its investors, which includes Fifth Wall, HG Ventures, Prologis Ventures, Closed Loop Partners and Urban Innovation Fund.
The facility will debut SOLARCYCLE’s next generation recycling process which the company says will have the capacity to recover 99% of PV materials and is optimized for bifacial C-Si panels.
Recovered materials from this recycling facility will be manufactured into new solar glass at the adjacent factory and sold directly back to American solar manufacturers. The company has partnerships with 70 of the nation’s energy companies to recycle and recover value from retired solar panels.
The new recycling facility is scheduled to be operational next year, with the adjacent glass factory operational in 2026.
