OnePlanet targets ‘untapped’ US circular PV recycling economy with US$21 million financing

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Other companies, such as Solarcycle, are also contributing to the growing PV recycling ecosystem. Image: SolarCycle.

US material recovery firm OnePlanet has closed two financing deals to aid the development of a solar module recycling facility in Florida.

OnePlanet secured a US$7 million seed financing round led by Khasma Capital, a low carbon infrastructure investment firm. The funds will support “final engineering, permitting, and pre-construction activities” at the planned River City facility in Green Cove Springs, Florida.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The company was also awarded a US$14.5 million tax credit from the Department of Energy’s competitive Section 48C(e) Advanced Energy Project Programme, which OnePlanet said “specifically supports domestic advanced manufacturing facilities that recover and reintroduce critical materials—such as silicon, aluminium, and copper—back into US supply chains.”

The facility is expected to be able to process 2 million PV modules annually upon commissioning in 2027, with planned expansion to 6 million modules by 2030.

“Solar as an industry is now at an inflection point in its lifecycle, where we can’t simply install megawatts—we must also build the industrial capacity to recover and reintegrate the very materials that enable it. This facility will be a cornerstone of that effort,” said André Pujadas, CEO of OnePlanet.

PV recycling schemes already exist, most notably the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) programme, and a number of companies are beginning to move into the space to focus specifically on PV end-of-life.

In the US, Solarcycle was established in 2022 with a focus on high-value recycling, to recover silver and copper from modules as well as glass, aluminium and silicon. The US branches of many international solar manufacturers, including Korea’s Hanwha Qcells and Chinese players such as Runergy and Canadian Solar, have inked contracts with Solarcycle to recycle their US modules.

Elsewhere, Australian firm Lotus Energy recently announced plans to build a US$250 million module recycling facility in Saxony, Germany, and European non-profit PV Cycle also operates out of Belgium.

Many of these efforts are aiming to introduce an element of circular economy to the solar industry, whereby materials recovered from recycled modules are fed back into the supply for new products.

OnePlanet CEO Pujadas likened the opportunity to sustainable steel production and the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technology, which OnePlanet said he was involved in during a previous role at US steel producer Nucor.

“With millions of panels slated for decommissioning, the opportunity to recover high-purity silicon—and reintroduce it as a captive, domestic feedstock—parallels the EAF-era transformation we pioneered at Nucor,” he said.

“OnePlanet is building the infrastructure to harness this untapped materials stream as a foundational input not only for clean energy manufacturing, but also for the US semiconductor industry—supporting domestic chip production and fortifying critical supply chains for decades to come.”

PV Tech Premium has published a number of features looking at the development and prospects of solar PV recycling across the world.

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

October 7, 2025
Econergy will acquire 100% stake in the 155MW Ratesti solar project in Romania, further expanding its European renewable energy portfolio.
October 7, 2025
Juniper Green Energy through its subsidiary Juniper Green Sigma Eight has signed a 70MW power purchase agreement with renewable energy giant Tata Power. 
October 7, 2025
Solar PV will account for almost 80% of the 4.6TW of new renewable power expected to be added by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
October 7, 2025
OpenSolar has secured US$13.1 million in equity financing from technology investors, including Titanium Ventures, Google and others.
October 7, 2025
Doral Renewables has secured a PPA with an unnamed 'corporate buyer' for its 430MW Cold Creek solar-plus-storage project in Texas.
October 7, 2025
US independent power producer (IPP) Arevon has begun operations at two utility-scale solar projects in Indiana.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK