Solarcycle to build recycled solar glass factory in Georgia, US

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Laminate pulled from a solar panel before recycling. Image: Solarcycle.

US-based PV recycling firm Solarcycle has announced plans to build a recycled solar glass manufacturing facility in Polk County, Georgia.

The facility will use recycled materials from retired solar panels to make new solar glass in what Solarcycle said was a “first-of-its-kind” endeavour in the US. This would make Solarcycle one of the first producers of solar glass for crystalline silicon PV in the US.  

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Representing US$344 million in investment, the facility will be capable of producing enough solar glass for between 5GW and 6GW of PV capacity annually. Solarcycle will also recycle modules at the facility. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024, with operations in 2026.

Glass from the new facility will be sold back to domestic, US solar manufacturers and “fill a critical gap in the country’s supply chain to build more solar panels in America”, Solarcycle said in a press release.

Georgia governor Brian Kemp said: “Solarcycle’s first-of-its-kind facility is a transformational investment for the Polk County community and will help drive its economy for years to come. In Georgia, our strong energy mix is one of the key reasons our state has attracted generational investments in recent years.”

Indeed, Georgia is also the home of Korean-owned solar manufacturer Hanwha Qcells’ US manufacturing base – a pair of module production facilities with a planned total of 8.4GW production capacity and plans for 3.3GW of ingot, wafer and cell manufacturing, one of the only vertically integrated solar manufacturing plans in the US to date.

Solarcycle’s glass facility announcement follows the news of a module recycling agreement with Qcells for products produced at its Georgia facilities. This deal builds on a number of recycling agreements with US solar developers that Solarcycle has signed since the company’s creation in 2022.

Solarcycle’s business model is based on “high-value” recycling, which it claims can recover 95% of the financial value from a decommissioned module. The company has said that it aims to enable a circular solar supply chain in the US, where recycled products are fed back into the production cycle to produce new, more sustainable solar modules. Currently, Solarcycle operates two recycling facilities in Texas and Arizona.

A recycled glass production facility could be a notable step towards ‘closing the supply chain loop’, as Solarcycle CEO and founder Suvi Sharma phrased it at the time of the Qcells partnership announcement.

But a domestic circular economy is likely still a long way off for the solar industry in the US. The capacity to produce new products from old ones does not exist yet; most solar products are still imported to the country, and capacity for further upstream products like cells, ingots and wafers – as well as other bill-of-materials parts like glass and backsheets – is significantly lower than module assembly capacity.

Additionally, a report from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in 2021 – referenced in a feature published by PV Tech Premium last year – found that only around 10% of decommissioned solar modules in the US are recycled.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
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.

Read Next

June 17, 2025
New solar manufacturing facilities show higher rates of product defects, PV Tech has heard from Joerg Althaus of Clean Energy Associates.
Premium
June 17, 2025
PV Tech spoke with Joerg Althaus of CEA about the under-explored issues with solar racking, trackers and other technical concerns.
June 17, 2025
The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for utility-scale solar PV in the US has tightened for a third year in a row, according to Lazard’s latest report.
June 17, 2025
US tax credits for solar PV, wind power and electric vehicles are facing dramatic cuts, while those for energy storage are sustained.
June 17, 2025
Indian module manufacturer Ahaan Solar has started construction of a 2GW solar module assembly plant in Rohnat, Haryana.
Sponsored
June 17, 2025
As the solar industry pushes for ever-lower costs, collapsing module quality is forcing a rethink of how reliability and performance can be safeguarded, writes Eric Hafter.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico