This is moving faster than almost anyone realizes. SOLARCYCLE launched in 2022 charging $18/panel including shipping; today they run six US facilities (Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Nevada, Arizona), recycled over one million panels in 2025, are ramping to two million in 2026, and their new Georgia plant will scale to 5 gigawatts of panels per year. They're even breaking ground on a 1.1-million-square-foot facility making recycled solar glass for American panel manufacturing — panels made from panels. The circle, closing.
The economics are the last hurdle: recycling a panel costs ~$20 and yields $10-12 in recovered materials, so subsidies or regulation still bridge the gap. That's changing too — the EPA is finalizing "universal waste" rules for panels (final rule expected 2027), which will streamline recycling nationally. With 4-5 million US panels retiring yearly now and 10+ million projected by 2030, the companies building this infrastructure today are building the next energy supply chain. I intend to be part of it.