Recycled Glass for American Solar Panels
USA-based company Solarcycle reported that Illuminate USA, the largest single-site solar panel manufacturer in North America, has signed a five-year agreement with the solar panel recycler to purchase domestically manufactured solar glass.
“The glass will support the production of three gigawatts (GW) of solar panels each year at Illuminate USA’s advanced manufacturing facility based in Pataskala, Ohio.” This multi-year commitment would make Illuminate USA the largest customer for Solarcycle’s future solar glass factory in Cedartown, Georgia. The technology-based solar panel recycler and materials company will produce glass using recycled materials from retired solar panels. According to the information, the future solar glass production capacity is almost entirely committed in long-term agreements. “The facility is shovel-ready, and the company is now working to finalize the remaining investment necessary to begin construction”, Solarcycle gave account. The company would target early 2028 for initial deliveries of solar glass. Once complete, the new solar glass factory in Cedartown is expected to be the first to produce specialized glass for crystalline-silicon solar panels in the United States, “and the first in the world to use recycled glass cullet from end-of-life solar panels as a key input”.
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2025, Page 17)
