Solarcycle, a California-based company that recycles solar panels to produce sustainable materials for the solar industry, has signed a Recycling Services Agreement with the AES Corporation, a global energy company, and launched a pilot program to assess construction breakage and end-of-life solar panel waste across the AES’s portfolio.

As part of the agreement, AES will send damaged or retired solar panels to Solarcycle’s advanced recycling facility in Odessa, Texas, for recycling and repurposing. In April, the two companies launched the first phase of this initiative when Solarcycle transported decommissioned panels from an AES facility in Arizona to their Odessa, Texas, facility. The panels will be processed, and value-added materials will be sent to domestic material off-takers, including several local companies in Texas.

The non-exclusive agreement between the two companies also aims to support the growing US solar manufacturing industry, driven by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), by increasing the domestic supply of recycled materials such as glass, silicon, silver, copper, and aluminum.

Analyst QuickTake: Last month, Solarcycle achieved recognition by being chosen as one of five projects to receive a grant of USD 1.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This grant will be utilized by Solarcycle to enhance its capabilities in recovering essential materials of high purity from end-of-life solar panels.