🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.
Today, we are talking to Adam Saghei from WeRecycleSolar.
Having a serial entrepreneur on was a ton of fun because he has picked up the tools over and over again until he’s gotten to this point.
In today’s conversation, we discuss a LOT, but some of the notable things are…
The real lifespan of solar panels (vs the forecasted lifespan)
How they are partnering with OEMs to improve the design with end-of-life in mind
And something that sounds way too cool… Urban Mining
Enjoy today’s episode, and let us know your thoughts in the comments
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The Guest: Adam Saghei
Adam is the Founder and CEO at WeRecycleSolar, a company doing… you guess it - solar panel recycling.
Adam has always been an entrepreneur from the earliest days. Eventually, he built a successful business disposing of electronics in line with cyber security best practices.
Coming into 2020, they started to get more and more requests to dispose of solar panels.
That’s when they bet the farm on a hard pivot to serve that space exclusively.
In 2024 they are aiming to process 500k panels
The Startup: WeRecycleSolar
Solar Panel Recycling / Disposal, Circularity, Supply Chain
One-liner: refurbishing and recycling solar panels to increase the circularity of the industry.
Born out of Takovery Inc in 2020, WeRecycleSolar is now taking in solar panels and refurbishing them to sell into the secondary market or breadking down the panels to sell these materials into other supply chains.
Often solar panels are replace or upgraded early to increase the return for the investors on these solar farms. Since the panels still have life, WRS helps companies refurbish them and sell them at a discout to secondary markets where they desperatly need solar instalations.
In many cases, the panels are damaged or fully used up. They help breakdown these materials to get them to other supply chains. In the future, when the volume is high enough, we are likely to see a circular supply chain for the PV panel manufacturing spce.
Because of their experience at the end of life, WRS is able to work closely with OEMs to improve how they make things so these products become more circular in nature, and can be disasembled more easily in future iterations of the produt.
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📝 Show Notes:
Topics
01:34 Intro and Background
03:15 The Problem of End-of-Life Solar Panels
08:52 Financial Implications of Shorter Lifespan
13:33 Recycling and Refurbishing Panels
16:21 Reusing Materials in the Supply Chain
21:06 Origins of We Recycle Solar
23:29 Introduction to Returns Management Programs
24:28 Starting the Refurbishing and Recycling Process
25:32 Pivoting to a New Business Model
26:44 Entrepreneurial Mindset and Taking Risks
28:14 Scaling the Business and Future Growth
30:51 Technology and Innovation in Recycling Processes
31:38 Intellectual Property and Strategic Components
32:34 Business Model and Potential Partnerships
35:54 Current Scale and Future Goals
38:24 Roadblocks and Challenges
39:15 Funding and Bootstrapping the Business
40:54 Acquiring Talent and Building Culture
43:38 Supporting the Future of the Industry
49:29 Takeaways
Links
This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
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Here’s the thing: Somil and I both have day jobs, so if you’re in the helping mood, we both have an ask for you today.
Somil: I’m currently seeking to connect with founders in the built environment space for a project I’m working on. If you’re in that space, schedule a chat here!
Silas: As many of you know, my day job is solving people’s hiring headaches in climate - do you have a hiring headache? Well, let me be your Advil. (booking here)
🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!
#169 Urban Mining, Actual Solar Panel Lifespan, End of Life Engineering, & More w/ Adam Saghei (WeRecycleSolar)