Solar recycling company bringing 640 new jobs to northwest Georgia

A Georgia solar recycling company is doubling the number of jobs it promised early this year with an expansion of its facilities in Polk County, Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.

SOLARCYCLE, which announced a $344 million solar glass manufacturing facility in February that is under construction, is adding a 255,000-square-foot building near the plant for its solar panel recycling operations.

Official say the new project will add 640 full-time jobs, more than double the 600 jobs announced in February by Kemp and state officials. The initial plant is creating solar glass from retired solar panels. It's one of the first in the country, according to SOLARCYCLE.

"In response to continued demand for solar recycling and domestic manufacturing, we will be able to scale operations and begin hiring sooner than originally planned,” said Suvi Sharma, CEO and co-founder at SOLARCYCLE. “We applaud Governor Kemp for his leadership supporting clean energy policy that has made it possible to scale solar manufacturing in the state, and bring good jobs and meaningful investment to local communities as a result. This is exactly what the future of American manufacturing looks like and SOLARCYCLE is proud to be at the helm.”

The new plant is scheduled to open in the second half of 2025, state officials said. The new $62 million investment will increase SOLARCYCLE's panel recycling capacity to 10 million solar panels a year.

"SOLARCYCLE’s technology is important because it takes materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill and puts them back in the supply chain, effectively reducing our reliance on importing new materials,” said Commissioner Pat Wilson of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “Northwest Georgia has been a center of manufacturing in Georgia for decades – from providing the flooring we use in our homes and offices to now producing technology for clean energy to power those same buildings."