Solarcycle and Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp jointly announced that the company will create more than 600 new full-time jobs in Polk County, investing an estimated $344 million in a solar glass manufacturing facility in Cedartown. The facility will use recycled materials from retired solar panels to make new solar glass.
About Solarcycle and the new facility
Solarcycle currently operates facilities in Odessa, Texas, and Mesa, Arizona, and has inked long-term partnerships with more than 40 of the nation’s solar energy companies to reuse and recycle their solar panels, including Georgia-based solar manufacturer Qcells. The company’s recycling technology allows it to extract 95% of the value from used solar panels.
Solarcycle’s new facility in Georgia will position the company as a manufacturer of specialized glass for crystalline-silicon photovoltaics, with the capacity to make 5-6 gigawatts worth of solar glass every year. The glass will be sold directly back to the domestic solar manufacturers and fill a gap in the country’s supply chain to build more solar panels in America, say officials.
Solarcycle will construct a new manufacturing facility located at Cedartown North Business Park, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development certified site in Cedartown. The plant, which will be the first of Solarcycle’s facilities to manufacture glass in addition to recycling solar panels, is scheduled to begin construction in 2024 and will be operational in 2026. Solarcycle will create full-time jobs in manufacturing, engineering, management, research and design, and support staff.
What people are saying
“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,” says Governor Brian Kemp. “In Georgia, our strong energy mix is one of the key reasons our state has attracted generational investments in recent years. We will keep working to secure our power supply through exciting projects like this one.”
“There is no question that solar panel manufacturing is booming in the state of Georgia. We are thrilled to join the team and build our recycled solar glass plant in Cedartown, which will bring hundreds of good-paying jobs to Georgia and help the industry in its goals to build fully American-made clean energy solutions,” says Suvi Sharma, CEO and co-founder, Solarcycle. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the state of Georgia and the city of Cedartown.”
