Solar, Full Circle | Suvi Sharma

Although it’s a relatively new industry, solar dominates 80% of new power-generating capacity in the United States. More than one billion solar panels are manufactured each year globally—and that number is projected to triple within eight years. But “mind-boggling” growth comes with challenges, says Suvi Sharma, CEO of SOLARCYCLE, which provides an eco-friendly process for decommissioning solar panels and repurposing the materials. In the United States alone, millions of panels are reaching end of life every year, and Sharma expects that total to surge to tens of millions by 2030. “All good things come to an end, and so do solar panels,” he says.

‍

SOLARCYCLE’s proprietary, patented technology enables the company to extract 95% of the value of a solar panel’s materials, including silver, silicon, copper and aluminum. All are worth their weight in gold, given that new solar panels consume nearly 20% of the world’s annual supply of silver—and making new aluminum products from recycled frames requires 95% less energy than mining bauxite.

‍

That said, recycling has two fundamental challenges. The first is logistics, because solar is everywhere: on homes, on commercial rooftops and in utility-scale solar farms. “There’s a lot to collect,” says Sharma. Then there’s the issue of taking apart intentionally resilient products. “Solar panels are really robust,” he explains. “They’ll last for 20 years in outdoor conditions, which means they’re a really strong product and don’t come apart easily.”

‍

SOLARCYCLE combines mechanical and thermal processes to extract materials, but the company increasingly favors thermal because it allows for cleaner separation. Sharma likens the panels to a sandwich whose ingredients are glued together, requiring heat to separate them efficiently. “If you just crush and shred everything, you’ll get a mishmash of junk,” he says.

‍

SOLARCYCLE has also begun to address the final frontier of solar recycling: plastic components that make up the 5% of materials the company is unable to reclaim. Its R&D team is developing solutions to transform plastics into packaging for SOLARCYCLE’s own operations—the pallets and protective material needed for transportation.

We aren’t settling for 95%, We’re settling for close to 100%, and I believe we have a technology roadmap to get there in the next two years.

‍

The company is building the first vertically integrated solar recycling business in the U.S. It operates recycling facilities in Texas, Arizona, and Georgia, and will open a glass factory in Georgia in 2027. This closed-loop system will cut emissions by 35% and create manufacturing in a market dominated by imports. Elsewhere on the eco front, SOLARCYCLE’s Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) provide customers with carbon impact calculations, which quantify greenhouse gas savings and landfill avoidance.

‍

All this innovation has captured the attention of other companies looking to capitalize on solar. Microsoft, for example, has partnered with SOLARCYCLE to build circularity into power purchase agreements for solar electricity running its data centers.

‍

Looking ahead, Sharma envisions robotics playing a role in both decommissioning installations and processing panels. “We foresee a future where we need to do 100 times what we’re doing today,” he says.

‍

Spectacular growth means that logistics will stay front and center. “Think about shipping a new product for building a solar project versus shipping it back,” Sharma says. “The cost is about the same, but it’s not worth anything near what it was when new.”

‍

The good news is that “logistics isn’t a science problem—it’s an engineering problem,” adds Sharma. “Which is why you’ll always hear me say, ‘Scale, scale, scale!’ That’s the key.”

‍

Return to the magazine