US start-up Solarcycle has announced plans to invest $344m in a factory to make glass for solar panels in Cedartown, Georgia.
The aim is to make the solar industry more circular by producing the panels from material recovered from ones that have been scrapped. The company operates recycling facilities in the US, from which it extracts 95% of the value of the materials.
Brian Kemp, Georgia’s governor, said: “Solarcycle’s first-of-its-kind facility is a transformational investment for the Polk County community and will help drive its economy for years to come. In Georgia, our strong energy mix is one of the key reasons our state has attracted generational investments in recent years.”
The factory will produce specialised glass for crystalline-silicon photovoltaics. It is expected that, in a year, it will make enough of this to generate up to 6GW, creating about 600 jobs in the process.
Construction is due to begin this year, with operations commencing in 2026.
