US solar module recycler Solarcycle has signed a recycling agreement with German renewable energy company RWE Clean Energy to use its proprietary recycling system for “many” of the latter’s products.
Solarcycle’s recycling process recovers aluminium, silver, copper, silicon and glass, and can recover “up to 95%” of a panel’s value, the company claims. Since starting operations in 2022, Solarcycle’s work has returned over 3.5 million pounds of aluminium and more than 365,000 pounds of metals – including silver, copper and silicon – to the supply chain.
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This is not the first collaboration between Solarcycle and RWE Clean Energy. They partnered on recycling projects at the Alamo 7 and West of the Pecos solar projects, which have a combined capacity of 206MW, and the 200MW Big Star solar-plus-storage project in Texas.
“RWE has a sophisticated understanding of solar panel recycling and knows the right questions to ask,” said Solarcycle co-founder and chief commercial officer Jesse Simons. “We encourage everyone in the solar industry to insist on these high standards for recycling and back it up with extensive third-party testing.”
Recycling has become part of the US conversation around building a robust solar supply chain less reliant on Chinese products. For instance, in 2023, China accounted for 98.1% of the world’s silicon wafer production, and efforts to address this imbalance in has been the driving force behind a number of investments made and agreements signed in recent months by Solarcycle.
Last October the company signed a glass recycling deal with Chinese manufacturer Runergy, and days later announced plans to build a new recycling plant in the US state of Georgia.
RWE Clean Energy starts construction at Ohio solar project
In other news, RWE Clean Energy has started construction at its 98MW Union Ridge solar project in Licking County, Ohio, in partnership with US engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm MasTec Renewables. The developer acquired the project from Leeward Renewable Energy in autumn 2024, and expects construction to take 11 months to complete.
The company currently owns and operates 400MW of wind and solar assets in Ohio, and the start of construction follows Avangrid’s commissioning of its 202MW Powell Creek solar project elsewhere in the state.
“Our Union Ridge project is an example of how we partner with leading American companies to bring job growth and critical economic activity to communities across America with our homegrown energy,” said RWE Clean Energy chief operating officer Kevin Kroll.
