US recycling solutions firm Comstock Metals has fully integrated and tested its solar panel recycling system, moving its first industry-scale facility into the final stages of commissioning and production ramp-up.
The company said all major processing stages have now been connected and successfully operated, completing testing of the facility’s individual unit operations.
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Final integration is expected to be completed in mid-August, after which Comstock Metals will begin ramping up towards its first production milestone, the company said.
Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals said: “We are now leveraging the modular nature of the start-up process to train and develop our operating crews as we transition from a 24-hour, five-day-per-week schedule to a 24/7 schedule using 12-hour rotating shifts. These activities remain on schedule through August as we ramp toward our first production milestone of continuously operating at 25% of rated capacity.”
The facility, designed with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes of solar panels, includes robotic handling, feed conveyance, particle sizing, shredding and conditioning systems, alongside Comstock’s proprietary processing technology.
Comstock Metals has also installed and tested upgraded glass-processing systems ahead of its original production schedule. The additional capability is designed to enable production of higher-specification glass products.
“While our recycling and upgrading operations ramp up, we have also advanced the development of our proprietary metals recovery processes. These novel metal extraction technologies should enable the economic recovery of silver and other metals and materials from our industrial offcut stream,” Villamagna added.
The company said it remains on schedule for its next major milestone: the development of a one-tonne-per-day pilot system.
The announcement comes as Comstock continues to ramp up its solar PV recycling footprint in the US. In July, it signed a recycling agreement with Illuminate USA for its 5GW Ohio module plant, while in June the firm partnered with JobsOhio and OhioSE on a recycling and logistics hub in Cambridge, Ohio.
Comstock also secured California certification to process PV modules in February and completed permitting for a Nevada facility in January, designed to process up to 3 million end-of-life modules annually.
OnePlanet unveils automated solar recycling process targeting 2027 production
In other news, Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered solar recycling company OnePlanet has launched PRISM, a fully automated, mechanical process designed to recover copper, aluminium and high-purity silicon carrying silver from end-of-life crystalline-silicon solar modules.
The process has completed engineering testing at OnePlanet’s commercial demonstration facility in Green Cove Springs, Florida, with production targeted for 2027.
According to the firm, PRISM removed 99.5% of module glass at 99% purity before size reduction, in staged testing. The process then produced a silicon stream exceeding 95% purity containing around 1% silver, alongside 99% pure copper granulate and 99.9% pure aluminium.
The company said the results were validated by independent third-party laboratories and applied to both monofacial and bifacial modules, including storm-damaged panels.
“One percent silver is not a trace amount. In metallurgical terms, that’s a substantial grade, richer than most mined ore,” said André Pujadas, CEO of OnePlanet.
“Combined with silicon above 95% purity, you have a single feedstock that can feed both an MGS [metallurgical-grade silicon] and silver refinery under one roof. Achieving this level of purity for the silicon stream is a substantial milestone in our pursuit of entering the metallurgical grade market, while further diversifying the process to enable 5N silver.”
The firm has also secured a US$14.5 million investment tax credit allocation under the federal Qualifying Advanced Energy Project (48C) programme to support its first industrial-scale facility, dubbed River City, which will house integrated PRISM production lines.
OnePlanet is developing this solar module recycling facility at its base in Green Cove Springs, Florida, with commissioning targeted for 2027 and planned capacity of 2 million modules annually. In April 2025, the company had secured two financing deals worth US$21 million including a US$7 million seed financing round led by Khasma Capital to support final engineering, permitting and pre-construction activities at the facility.
The company is targeting 2030 for a metallurgical-grade silicon refining process designed to recover silver as a separate finished product.
The 45th edition of PV Tech Power takes an in-depth look at whether the PV industry is ready for the coming wave of decommissioning and recycling, examining the development and prospects of solar PV recycling markets worldwide.
