Solar panel recycling in Texas

These are sunny days for solar power in Texas. A 2024 report by American Clean Power shows that Texas has surpassed California in utility-scale solar energy capacity. 

That’s great news for Texas’ air and water as we generate more and more electricity with zero-emission sources. But as we transition to a brighter, cleaner future powered by solar energy, we need to address what happens when solar panels reach their end of life. Solar panels only have a 25 – 30 year lifespan, so panels installed in the early 2000s are now being decommissioned. And hail storms and other natural disasters can bring a premature end to solar panels. Unfortunately, nearly 90% of solar panels currently end up in landfills. 

While the volume of landfilled panels will be a tiny fraction of total solid waste generated, it’s still a waste of resources that could be recovered and put back to work. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the “raw materials technically recoverable from PV panels could cumulatively yield a value of up to USD 450 million (in 2016 terms) by 2030. This is equivalent to the amount of raw materials currently needed to produce approximately 60 million new panels, or 18 GW of power-generation capacity.”

While the solar panel recycling industry is relatively new, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that “recycling is already established in the glass, metals, and electronics industries, which can accommodate solar panels and other solar power system components.”

Texas currently has several facilities which recycle solar panels:  Electronic Recyclers International in Flower Mound, Echo Environmental Holdings in Carrollton, Device Services Group in McKinney, Okon Recycling in Dallas, and SolarCycle in Odessa. SolarPanelRecycling.com opened a facility in Breckinridge (northeast of Abilene) earlier this year.   

SolarCycle also powers nearly 50% of its Odessa plant using retired solar panels. Often, discarded panels are still functional, albeit less efficient. When this happens, SolarCycle plugs them into its on-site solar array. Then, when these already-recycled panels reach the end of their life, they harvest and re-sell the materials. 

As Texas continues to shine as a solar power leader, the state’s success brings both opportunity and responsibility. Recycling solar panels is key to ensuring that the transition to clean energy doesn’t come at the cost of wasted resources. By investing in recycling infrastructure and improving the lifecycle management of panels, Texas can not only power the state with clean energy but also set a global example for sustainability in the renewable energy sector. With industry innovation and growing awareness, the future of solar power in Texas can remain bright, clean, and circular.