How EPR Credits Work For Solar Panel Recyclers? Beyond Renewables Explains

What led you to set up Beyond Renewables?

I am a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago. About a year and a half ago, I co-founded Beyond Renewables, where I currently serve as CEO. We are a solar panel recycling company focused on end-of-life and damaged solar panels that are typically categorised as scrap and often end up in landfills. Our work involves preventing that outcome by recycling these panels, extracting valuable raw materials, and reintroducing them into existing supply chains.

How do you assess the emerging solar waste problem?

Interestingly, raw material availability is not the core challenge. India is already manufacturing close to 100 gigawatts of solar panels annually. What is often overlooked is the volume of waste generated during manufacturing, in addition to end-of-life panels.

We expect a major inflection point around 2030, when many of the earliest utility-scale solar projects begin to be decommissioned. That process has already started in pockets. Manufacturing waste alone typically ranges from 0.5% to 5%, depending on the scale and efficiency of the manufacturer. One gigawatt of manufacturing corresponds to roughly 20 lakh panels. Even at a conservative 1% wastage rate, 100 GW of annual manufacturing results in nearly 12 crore panels a year being classified as manufacturing scrap.

What are the key waste streams you are seeing beyond manufacturing scrap?

Another important source of waste is EPC players. Individually, each EPC player may generate 50 to 100 damaged panels per month, but when aggregated across the industry, this becomes substantial. There is also a widespread assumption that panels last for 25 years because that is the warranty period. In reality, we see early losses. After the first year itself, panels begin to experience degradation in energy efficiency.

By the 10th or 15th year, many panels become economically unviable for asset owners to retain. They are therefore replaced, and during decommissioning and transportation, significant breakage occurs, adding to the waste burden.

Q: How does Beyond Renewables approach recycling? 

We are not currently focused on remanufacturing new panels from old ones, so it is not a fully closed-loop circular model. Our focus is on maximising raw material recovery.

We primarily recover six materials: aluminium from the panel frame, glass—which accounts for about 75% of a panel’s weight—silicon, copper, silver, and polymers. Each of these materials feeds into its respective downstream supply chain. For instance, recovered glass is supplied to flat glass and decorative glass manufacturers.

Over time, the goal is to enable recycled glass to be used for solar glass manufacturing in India, similar to what is already happening in markets such as the US. Building that infrastructure domestically will be critical.

How developed is the solar recycling ecosystem in India?

The ecosystem is still at a very early stage. There are very few organised players, and many of those that have entered the space are still refining their technology and operations.

From that perspective, we see ourselves as one of the early movers. At this stage, the priority is ecosystem development rather than competition, especially because the volume of waste far exceeds current recycling capacity.

Could you outline your operational plans and processing capacity?

We are setting up our first recycling facility in Jaipur. Within a 50-kilometre radius of the site, there is approximately 20 gigawatts of module manufacturing capacity, which ensures a steady and consistent supply of waste.

The initial facility will have a processing capacity of roughly 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes per year, translating to slightly over 500 panels per day. We source waste from multiple large module manufacturers, though we prefer not to disclose client names.

How do the economics of solar panel recycling work in India today?

Unit economics are central to making recycling viable. As a recycler, I need to operate at a scale and cost structure that justifies the process. At the same time, manufacturers and other waste generators expect to receive monetary value for their waste, as they are aware that recyclers recover valuable metals and materials.

This is different from markets such as Europe or the US, where recyclers are paid a fee to recycle panels and do not need to purchase the waste. Those systems work because traceability is embedded across the value chain.

What role do policy measures like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)?

Traceability is critical in India, particularly because the informal sector is very dominant. Many end-of-life panels are resold as second-hand panels, which is environmentally harmful and economically inefficient.

Storage costs also act as a strong policy lever. Under current guidelines, waste generators require about 19.5 cubic metres of space per tonne to store solar panels—roughly 3,000 square feet for every 1,000 panels. This creates significant pressure to move waste into formal recycling channels.

The EPR policy further incentivises waste generators to work with registered recyclers to obtain EPR certificates.

How do EPR credits function and benefit recyclers?

Our value proposition has two components. First, suppliers are paid for the waste materials they provide. Second, they receive access to EPR credits.

When we extract materials—such as aluminium, which typically makes up at least 10% of a panel—and sell them, we generate invoices. These invoices are submitted on the pollution control board’s EPR portal, which issues certificates confirming that recycling has taken place.

These certificates are tradable and have market value based on demand and supply. Manufacturers across sectors, including solar and aluminium, are legally required to offset a portion of their production through EPR certificates. This creates sustained demand and ensures accountability across the recycling chain.