recycling

Company with Texas solar panel recycling plant plans next facility out of state

Solarcycle's first facility is in Texas. It's next is headed for outside of Atlanta. Photo via Solarcycle.us

A company that recycles solar panels announced Thursday that it would build a $344 million factory in northwest Georgia, for the first time expanding to making new glass for panels.

Arizona-based Solarcycle, which was founded in 2022 and opened its first recycling facility in Odessa, Texas, said it would hire more than 600 workers in Cedartown, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, for a factory opening in 2026. Earlier this month, the company opened a headquarters, research lab and second recycling facility in Mesa, Arizona, hiring more than 100 people.

Solarcycle says its automated recycling process can extract materials worth 95% of a solar panel's value, including silver, silicon, copper and aluminum. Solarcycle said would be able to recycle 1 million solar panels in Cedartown. Then it plans to make enough glass to make solar panels that could produce 5 gigawatts a year of electricity, using a combination of recycled glass and raw material. Solarcycle said it would sell the glass to companies that make solar panels in the United States.

Last week, South Korean-owned Qcells, which makes solar panels in nearby Dalton, said it had contracted with Solarcycle to recycle decommissioned Qcells panels in the United States. Solarcycle said it has similar contracts with more than 40 other solar energy companies.

The company chose Cedartown to be close to domestic solar panel makers, spokesperson Brooke Havlik said, saying the location offers rail and shipping infrastructure and workers.

Solarcycle has raised tens of millions of dollars from private investors for expansion, and Havlik said the Cedartown factory would largely be funded through private investment.

The company has also received $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund research and development, and Havlik said the companies that buy Solarcycle’s glass are expanding, “largely driven by incentives and tailwinds” created by Biden administration actions.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock credited President Joe Biden’s clean energy and healthcare law, the Inflation Reduction Act, with spurring Solarcycle’s investment, saying Georgians continue “to reap its benefits.”

Gov. Brian Kemp, though, has argued that Georgia's business environment deserves credit for attacting companies like Solarcycle and Qcells. Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said the company approached state economic recruiters at a trade show.

“Solarcycle provides a critical piece to the integrated solar supply chain we are building in Georgia,” Wilson said in a statement.

Solarcycle didn’t say how much workers will make, only describing pay and benefits as “competitive.”

The company could qualify for $9 million in state income tax credits, at $3,000 per job over five years, as long as workers make at least $31,300 a year. The company will also receive property tax breaks from Cedartown and Polk County, said Chris Thomas, the president and CEO of the Development Authority of Polk County, but he did not provide an estimate. Solarcycle said Georgia will also pay to train workers.

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A View From HETI

ConocoPhillips' lay offs could impact thousands of jobs. ConocoPhillips/Facebook

Oil giant ConocoPhillips is planning to lay off up to a quarter of its workforce, amounting to thousands of jobs, as part of broader efforts from the company to cut costs.

A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips confirmed the layoffs on Wednesday, September 3, noting that 20% to 25% of the company's employees and contractors would be impacted worldwide. ConocoPhillips currently has a global headcount of about 13,000 — meaning that the cuts would impact between 2,600 and 3,250 workers.

“We are always looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have,” a ConocoPhillips' spokesperson said via email, adding that the company expects the “majority of these reductions” to take place before the end of 2025.

ConocoPhillips' shares fell 4.3% last week. The Houston-based company's stock now sits at under $95 per share, down nearly 14% from a year ago.

News of the coming layoffs was first reported by Reuters, with anonymous sources telling the outlet that CEO Ryan Lance detailed the plans in a video message earlier Wednesday. In that video, Reuters reported, Lance said the company needed “fewer roles” while he cited rising costs.

Last month, ConocoPhillips reported second-quarter earnings of $1.97 billion. That beat Wall Street expectations, but was down from the nearly $2.33 billion the company reported for the same period last year.

In its latest earnings, reported on August 7, ConocoPhillips continued to point to cost cutting efforts — noting that it had identified more than $1 billion in cost reductions and margin optimization. The company also said it had agreed to sell its Anadarko Basin assets for $1.3 billion.

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