SolarCycle's new Georgia facility can recycle 2 million solar panels annually

Nov 01, 2024

By Kelly Pickerel | October 31, 2024

SolarCycle today announced details of the solar panel recycling facility that will be built adjacent to its glass manufacturing plant in Cedartown, Georgia. The 255,000-ft2 recycling facility will have the capacity to recycle 2 million solar panels each year — nearly 5 GW total.

SolarCycle will employ more than 1,250 workers across the recycling facility and glass manufacturing outfit once both locations reach full capacity.

“As Georgia continues to lead the nation in attracting jobs from emerging industries, we’re thankful SolarCycle is moving up creation of these opportunities in northwest Georgia, benefitting that entire region’s economy,” said Governor Brian Kemp.

“We are pleased to accelerate our work in Cedartown, Georgia, in response to continued demand for solar recycling. 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,” said Suvi Sharma, CEO and co-founder of SolarCycle.

To support the acceleration and expansion of the SolarCycle circular economy campus in Cedartown, the company welcomes Microsoft to its roster of strategic investors, which includes Fifth Wall, HG Ventures, Prologis Ventures, Closed Loop Partners and Urban Innovation Fund.

The Georgia facility will debut SolarCycle’s next generation recycling process which will have the capacity to recover up to 99% of PV materials and is optimized for bifacial silicon 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 Cedartown facility joins SolarCycle’s other recycling outfits in Texas and Arizona. The Georgia plant should become operational in mid-2025. The glass factory should begin production in 2026.