OnePlanet Solar Recycling (OnePlanet), an advanced materials recovery processor specializing in end-of-life solar panels, secured $7 million in a seed financing round led by Khasma Capital, a low-carbon infrastructure investment firm.
The company has been developing a $90 million industrial-scale River City Project, which can produce high-grade critical materials such as silicon, aluminum, copper, and silver through recycling.
The initial phase of funding will support final engineering, permitting, and pre-construction activities for the facility. Upon commissioning in 2027, it is designed to process over 2 million end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) modules annually, with planned expansions for additional phases totaling 6 million modules by 2030.
Apart from this equity funding, the company’s River City project was also awarded a $14.5 million Investment Tax Credit under the Department of Energy’s competitive Section 48C(e) Advanced Energy Project Program, established by the Inflation Reduction Act. The tax credit supports domestic advanced manufacturing facilities that recover and reintroduce critical materials, such as silicon, aluminum, and copper, back into U.S. supply chains.
“With millions of panels slated for decommissioning, the opportunity to recover high-purity silicon—and reintroduce it as a captive, domestic feedstock—parallels the EAF-era transformation we pioneered at Nucor. OnePlanet is building the infrastructure to harness this untapped materials stream as a foundational input not only for clean energy manufacturing but also for the U.S. semiconductor industry—supporting domestic chip production and fortifying critical supply chains for decades to come,” said André Pujadas, Chief Executive Officer of OnePlanet.
According to Mercom’s recently released Q1 2025 Solar Funding and M&A Report, Global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2025 came to $1.4 billion in 14 deals, a 237% increase YoY compared to $406 million raised in 13 deals in Q1 2024. Funding increased 40% QoQ compared to the $1 billion raised in 21 deals in Q4 2024.
