SolarCycle’s recycling facility in Texas with its second-hand solar power plant. Credit: Solar cycle
Solar panel recycling equipment Solar cycle has announced that it has installed a 500 kW system at its recycling plant in Odessa, Texas, which will supply approximately 50% of the electricity used at the plant. The nearly 1,000 panels used for the project come from retired solar projects – some from large-scale projects in Texas installed by Ørsted and others from Sunrun residential projects.
It is a unique mix of utility-scale and residential solar panels that are reused while still being able to generate solar energy.
“Now that retired solar panels from companies like Ørsted and Sunrun are going offline, [SolarCycle] assesses the power and durability of the panels and evaluates whether they can be reused,” SolarCycle explained in a press email. “In five or ten years, once the energy production from the solar panels decreases, the company will transfer the panels to their recycling lines and replace the panels with future raw materials.”
SolarCycle said it plans to expand this “second-hand power plant” to further meet the company’s energy needs, including at its recycling facilities in Mesa, Arizona and Cedartown, Georgia.