SOLARCYCLE®, an advanced technology-based solar panels recycling company, has announced in partnership with Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp, that the company will create more than 600 new full-time jobs in Polk County, Georgia, USA, investing an estimated USD 344 million in a solar glass manufacturing facility in Cedartown.
The facility will be the first-of-its-kind in the country to use recycled materials from retired solar panels to make new solar glass.
SOLARCYCLE currently operates facilities in Odessa, Texas, and Mesa, Arizona, and has inked long-term partnerships with more than forty of the nation’s largest solar energy companies to reuse and recycle their solar panels including Georgia-based solar manufacturer Qcells. The company’s advanced, proprietary recycling technology allows it to extract 95 percent of the value from used solar panels.
SOLARCYCLE’s new facility in Georgia will position the company as one of the first manufacturers of specialized glass for crystalline-silicon (c-Si) photovoltaics in the U.S., with the capacity to make five to six gigawatts worth of solar glass every year. The glass will be sold directly back to the domestic solar manufacturers and fill a critical gap in the country’s supply chain to build more solar panels in America.
“There is no question that solar panel manufacturing is booming in the State of Georgia. We are thrilled to join the team and build our recycled solar glass plant in Cedartown, which will bring hundreds of good-paying jobs to Georgia and help the industry in its goals to build fully American-made clean energy solutions,” said Suvi Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of SOLARCYCLE. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the State of Georgia and the City of Cedartown.”
SOLARCYCLE will construct a new manufacturing facility located at Cedartown North Business Park, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) certified site. The plant, which will be the first of SOLARCYCLE’s facilities to manufacture glass in addition to recycling solar panels, is scheduled to begin construction in 2024 and will be operational in 2026. SOLARCYCLE will create full-time jobs in manufacturing, engineering, management, research and design, and support staff.