TerrePower Accelerates Solar Panel Reuse Industry with Fully Operational Tennessee Facility

SPARTA, TN, June 8, 2023 ––TerrePower, the innovative solar panel and EV battery lifecycle management division of BBB Industries, announced today that solar remanufacturing at its Sparta, Tennessee, facility is fully operational. The plant is dedicated to extending the life and improving the performance of solar panels through sustainable manufacturing for reuse, significantly reducing costs and emissions.

The facility, with 20,000 square feet devoted to solar panel sustainable manufacturing, has an annual capacity of over 125,000 panels. Established in 2021, TerrePower is leveraging over three decades of BBB Industries’ expertise in the global automotive aftermarket.

TerrePower is the only company of its kind to sustainably manufacture both EV batteries and solar power systems, including panels and inverters. Though EVs are still in the early stages of mass adoption, the company is ramping up its EV operations across four U.S. plants (PA, FL, AZ and TN). TerrePower is also moving full speed ahead with solar panel refurbishment, which no company has yet scaled.

“The holy grail of responsible resource management has always prioritized reuse over recycling,” says Duncan Gillis, CEO of BBB Industries. “We are selling every solar panel we can remanufacture and expect to triple the size of our solar panel remanufacturing business in the next two years.”

TerrePower remanufactures used solar panels to enable second-life usage, selling them as a more affordable solution, typically for commercial or residential installation or replacement use. The company recycles materials from panels and EV batteries it cannot remanufacture and enables the reuse of raw materials to avoid landfill disposal. Remanufacturing used panels can cut carbon emissions by about 35% over original production.

“We apply over 30 years of remanufacturing experience to our solar panels, which can provide a high-quality alternative source to new,” says John Boyer, President of TerrePower. “In many cases, we can use newer, superior components.”

TerrePower’s battery remanufacturing process includes identifying weak battery pack components and replacing them with tested components to improve performance for vehicle reuse.  Underperforming battery modules that can no longer be used for mobility are repurposed into stationary energy storage units for a second life.

For both battery and panel remanufacturing, TerrePower applies the same fundamental processes and efficiencies that allow BBB Industries to move some 20 million auto parts across 76 countries annually. TerrePower’s Sparta facility, with a total square footage of 192,000, also houses a portion of this automotive production. TerrePower, which also has solar facilities in Houston, TX, intends to further scale its operations, giving more panels a second or third life while meeting the surge of retired panels expected from an industry that represents the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S.

Solar photovoltaic panels typically have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. Their reuse can further advance the circular economy while reducing waste and pollution. Keeping solar panels out of landfills can reduce the risk of toxins escaping into our land and waterways, decrease supply-chain dependence on imports, lower costs for solar and other manufacturers and multiply commercial opportunities across the clean energy economy.