Korean-owned solar manufacturer Qcells has signed an agreement with Texas-based solar module recycling firm Solarcycle to recycle Qcells’ decommissioned modules in the US.
PV Tech Premium talks to Solarcycle’s co-founders about their company’s unique ability to extract every single constituent material out of an end-of-life PV module, how solar panels are not lasting as long as people expected, the race to prevent solar waste being illegally dumped across the globe, and how modules can have a useful second life.
Danish renewables developer Ørsted has signed a recycling partnership agreement with Solarcycle to process and recycle the entirety of the modules in their US portfolio.
As the PV industry reckons with its social and environmental impact and the byproducts of its processes, beyond the near-term questions over provenance and manufacturing ethics, concerns at the horizon of a module’s lifespan are coming more and more into focus.
Solar module recycling company Solarcycle has secured US$30 million in Series A funding to increase its solar panel recycling capacity and expand materials re-manufacturing capabilities.
