Pushing towards sustainable energy sources, Heliene, a leading solar panel manufacturer in North America, has formed a strategic partnership with SOLARCYCLE, a company specializing in solar panel recycling.
This collaboration is aimed at enabling Heliene to use environment-friendly glass made from recycled solar panels in its new solar products.
“We are thrilled to add glass to our growing set of domestically made materials that will go into our modules,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene.
“Partnering with SOLARCYCLE enables us to improve our supply of domestic components, to help our clients qualify for the domestic content adder while materially reducing our carbon footprint.”
Scale of the partnership
Heliene will receive a substantial amount of recycled solar glass from SOLARCYCLE over the next five years.
Specifically, SOLARCYCLE will supply at least 4 gigawatts (GW) or about 20 million square meters of this innovative glass, which is “the equivalent of about 3,700 football fields.”
Using SOLARCYCLE’s ultra-low carbon, US-made glass offers Heliene multiple advantages.
Notably, SOLARCYCLE’s advanced recycling technology is capable of recovering “95 percent” of the value from solar panels, a significant improvement over the current industry standard, which typically recovers less than 50 percent.
This high recovery rate means that recycling solar panels can effectively contribute to a domestic supply of critical materials used in the production of new solar panels. These materials include essential components such as glass, silicon, and valuable metals like silver, copper, and aluminum.
In addition, it will drastically cut manufacturing emissions by over 30% and reduce shipping emissions by more than 50%.
An opportune moment
Interestingly, both companies are expanding their businesses to meet the demand of the growing solar manufacturing industry worldwide.
Heliene is enhancing its production capabilities, with its factory in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, operating at full capacity, and is boosting module production in the Minneapolis area. Additionally, it is entering cell manufacturing via a joint venture with Premier Energies.
SOLARCYCLE is also advancing quickly. It plans to build a groundbreaking facility in Georgia designed to recycle materials from decommissioned solar panels and convert them into new solar glass. The plant aims to produce a significant 5-6 GW of solar glass each year.
“We need to build more solar modules in America to increase the resiliency and sustainability of America’s fastest growing source of power,” remarked Suvi Sharma, CEO and co-founder of SOLARCYCLE.
This partnership highlights an emerging trend in the solar industry towards a circular economy, where materials are reused and recycled to minimize waste and environmental impact.
“We are excited to partner with Heliene so that they can use our ultra-low carbon solar glass to produce the next generation of American solar panels,” concluded Sharma.
Other buzzing advances
Meanwhile, researchers and companies across the globe are working on improving solar cell technology.
Recently, an Australian start-up, Halocell, introduced a perovskite solar cell that can harness ambient light, both indoors and outdoors, ensuring continuous power supply for devices without relying on traditional energy sources.
In another study, a team of researchers from the US and China demonstrated a novel way to increase the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells without reducing their performance.
As the solar industry continues to grow, such initiatives will be essential in ensuring that progress remains both economically viable and environmentally responsible.
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