Spain opens major solar panel recycling plant as satellite tech improves solar farm monitoring

A new 14,000 m² solar panel recycling facility has been launched in the Alhama industrial park of Murcia, Spain. The plant, built by a local company in the Gestaner Group, involved an investment of about €5 million and can process up to 420,000 decommissioned panels each year. Using advanced mechanical treatment, it recovers 90‑95% of panel weight, extracting high‑purity silicon, copper, aluminium, small amounts of silver and glass with 99% purity. The facility is expected to produce more than 6,600 tonnes of high‑quality glass annually, reducing reliance on virgin raw materials and cutting CO₂ emissions by up to 70% compared with traditional mining processes.

Separately, scientists have refined a method to monitor large solar farms from space using MODIS satellite data. By improving algorithms to isolate the thermal signature of photovoltaic modules from surrounding terrain, the technique can detect temperature‑related efficiency losses across millions of panels worldwide. This capability enables operators to anticipate maintenance needs, improve performance forecasts and better manage the growing global solar fleet.