Suvi Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of SOLARCYCLE, dives into the booming field of solar panel recycling. She discusses the staggering growth in solar panel deployment, estimating billions of panels will soon reach the end of their life cycles. Suvi explains the complex challenges of recycling these panels, from regulatory hurdles to the high-value metals involved. She also outlines SOLARCYCLE's innovative processes and the vital role recycling plays in creating sustainable energy solutions and domestic supply chains.
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SolarCycle’s Recycling Process
SolarCycle’s recycling process involves deframing panels, carefully removing glass, then separating metals from plastic granules.
The process uses mainly mechanical and thermal techniques to maintain material purity for resale.
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Diverse SolarCycle Customer Base
SolarCycle serves residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar panel recycling, with most volume from utility-scale farms.
Their first customer was a leading residential company, showing broad market reach.
insights INSIGHT
Scaling Recycling Operations
SolarCycle recycled over one million panels last year and plans large facilities capable of processing 10 million annually by decade’s end.
They balance facility scale and logistics footprint to optimize cost and efficiency.
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SOLARCYCLE is an emerging leader in the nascent category of solar panel recycling. The astounding ramp of solar panels deployed across the world rivals almost any technology adoption curve in history, and it's far from over. There were only five gigawatts of solar deployed globally between 2000 and 2005. By the end of 2025, a mere 20 years later, there will be around 2,000 gigawatts of solar deployed globally, and the growth is expected to continue to be exponential. That's billions and billions of panels that collectively make up a few hundred thousand square miles of space. And given the rate of installation, most of these panels are early in their expected lifespans. So, what happens when they do hit the end of life? Surely they aren't going to just be landfilled, right? Right? That's what Suvi's here to about.
In this episode, we cover:
[01:16] Solar panel deployment vs. end-of-life lag
[03:40] Billions of panels, billions of square feet
[05:11] 1.2B panels produced annually—set to triple
[07:06] Why is now the time to build recycling
[08:36] Who’s responsible for end-of-life? Developers
[9:36] Federal and state regulatory requirements
[10:46] Why landfilling is harder than it looks
[12:44] What makes solar panels tough to recycle
[14:01] The high-value metals: silver, copper, aluminum
[16:17] How SOLARCYCLE’s proprietary process works
[18:01] The company’s customer base
[19:18] Over 1M panels recycled in 2024
[20:44] Future opportunities in solar + storage recycling
[21:57] SOLARCYCLE’s funding to date
[24:55] Commodity markets for recycled materials
[26:39] What’s holding back growth for panel recycling
[30:05] SOLARCYCLE is hiring
[33:54] Panels as feedstock materials for domestic manufacturing
Episode recorded on May 22, 2025 (Published on June 30, 2025)
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Inevitable