This article was published by The Energy Mix on Feb. 27, 2024.
A solar module recycling company in Georgia is expanding its operations to produce glass for new panels for the first time.
The US$344-million Solarcycle factory will open in Cedartown, about 50 miles/80 kilometres northwest of Atlanta, in 2026, and employ more than 600 workers, The Associated Press reports.
The plant will recycle solar modules produced by South Korea-based Qcells, PV Magazine writes. Qcells already runs one of the biggest solar manufacturing operations in the United States, and announced a $2.5-billion investment in January, 2023, that will increase its annual output to 8.4 gigawatts by the end of this year, creating an estimated 4,000 jobs.
That investment, enabled by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, is located in the home district of one of the White House’s most exuberantly irrational critics, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Mesa, Arizona-based Solarcycle says its patented, automated recycling process “can extract materials worth 95 per cent of a solar panel’s value, including silver, silicon, copper, and aluminum,” AP says. The Cedartown plant will have capacity to recycle a million solar panels per year, then use a combination of recycled glass and raw material to produce 5 GW worth of panels.
In addition to Qcells, a Solarcycle spokesperson said the company has recycling contracts with more than 40 other panel makers.
“We want our solar panels to not only help our customers cut costs and carbon, but also to be a part of building a more sustainable clean energy industry,” a Qcells spokesperson said. “Our partnership with Solarcycle will give our panels a life after powering homes, businesses ,and communities, reducing waste and reusing pieces for all types of technology, including solar.”
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory foresees recycled panels and materials meeting 25 to 30 per cent of U.S. domestic solar manufacturing demand by 2040, PV Mag says. AP has more on how Solarcycle decided to locate in Georgia and the state and local tax credits it might qualify for.
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