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Panel advances bill requiring large-scale solar facilities to use recyclers; fines proposed for landfill disposal
Summary
Representative Trey Kelly presented a bill to require end-of-life solar panels from large-scale projects be taken to certified recycling facilities and to impose a per-panel civil penalty for sending panels to landfills. Industry leaders including Q Cells and recycler representatives testified in support.
Representative Trey Kelly introduced House Bill 320 in the Resource Management Subcommittee, proposing that large-scale solar-power facilities send decommissioned solar panels to certified recyclers rather than municipal landfills. The measure would not cover residential installations, Kelly said; it targets utility-scale projects defined elsewhere in code.
"When those panels reach their end of life, it would require that... the big megawatt projects... require them to be taken to a solar recycling facility," Kelly said. He told the committee the bill defines "legitimate recycling facility" and sets a civil penalty for landfill disposal at $20 per panel.
Kelly framed the proposal around the rapid growth of solar in Georgia and the potential volume of material that will reach end-of-life. He told the committee the state currently has about 7,300 megawatts of installed solar capacity and expects to add about 3,600 megawatts in the next five years; he also said about 1 megawatt equals roughly 3,500 panels. Kelly offered estimates for future waste volumes, saying earlier in testimony the state could see "about 25,000,000 panels" within the next decade and later citing an estimate of "38,000,000 panels" over a five-year horizon and a 2050 discard projection of about 425,000 tons.
Industry witnesses endorsed the idea as both an environmental and economic opportunity. Scott Moskowitz, vice president for market strategy and industry affairs at Q Cells, said the company supports the bill and that a recycling requirement would help build an end-to-end domestic solar supply chain. "This House Bill 320 represents a very practical, business-oriented solution to make sure that solar panels are ethically and responsibly recycled," Moskowitz said, adding the bill would create recycling-sector jobs without imposing costs on state government.
Edward Lindsey, an attorney speaking for a recycler, told the committee that industry recycling processes can recover most materials in panels. "About 99% of our solar panels can be recycled," he said, and added that recovered materials such as silicon, silver and copper can reduce future mining needs.
Committee members pressed the sponsor on the penalty level. Representative McCollum asked why the civil penalty was set at $20 per panel; McCollum and Representative Davis expressed concern that a low per-panel fine might not deter bad actors. Kelly said he selected $20 to make unlawful disposal more expensive than legitimate recycling and to avoid an excessively punitive fee that might be unnecessary given expected recycling costs. EPD staff said they had not produced statewide landfill-impact calculations during the hearing.
The bill drew testimony from multiple industry and recycler representatives attending the hearing. The subcommittee voted to report the bill favorably to the full committee after a motion by the chair; the measure will be considered in the full committee at the next scheduled meeting.
