Committee approves bill requiring recycling of utility-scale solar panels, sets per-panel penalty

The Natural Resources & Environment Committee voted to pass House Bill 320 at a committee meeting, approving a measure that would require owners and operators of large solar power facilities to recycle photovoltaic panels at the end of their operational life and imposes a civil penalty for improper landfill disposal.

The bill, introduced by Representative Trey Kelly (LC 550508S), aims to keep decommissioned solar panels out of landfills and to encourage development of a local recycling market. "What this bill simply does is say for solar panels that exist in our solar power facilities, our large solar projects, when they reach the end of their life, we don't want them going in our landfills. We want them to be recycled," Kelly said during his presentation.

Kelly told the committee that Georgia…