Utility & Commercial Solar Field Specialists

When Your Solar Field
Lifecycle Ends,
We Close the Loop.

NESDAR is built to be the Northeast's dedicated utility and commercial solar field decommissioning operator. We dispatch to your site, recover your materials, and close the solar lifecycle responsibly.

Our Services → Partner With Us

US Installed Capacity

300 GW

↑ 47%/yr

Projected Waste by 2030

2M tons/yr

Rising

NE Installed Base

20 GW

NY·NJ·CT·MA

Material Recovery Possible

95 %

Achievable

20GW

Northeast installed solar capacity requiring future management

~2M

Tons of panel waste projected annually by 2030

50MW

Combined solar installations by our founding team

The Challenge

Solar's Waste Wave Has No Infrastructure to Meet It.

The Northeast installed 18–22 GW of solar over 15 years. As those panels reach mid-life and are replaced by higher-efficiency models, a massive decommissioning wave is building — with no regional recycling infrastructure to intercept it.

2030

Annual panel waste forecast to reach 2 million tons in the US alone. With landfill tipping fees as low as –2 per panel, the financial default is disposal — permanently losing recoverable silicon, copper, and aluminum.

Source: Wood Mackenzie / SEIA — US Solar Market Insight 2024

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No Regional Decommissioning Infrastructure

The Northeast has no dedicated utility-scale solar decommissioning operator. Field owners facing end-of-life obligations have no regional certified partner to call.

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Repowering Wave Is Generating Panels Now

Commercial and utility owners replacing 250W panels with 450W+ models are generating thousands of decommissioned panels per job, right now, with nowhere to send them.

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Decommissioning Bond Obligations

Most utility and commercial solar projects required decommissioning bonds at permitting. That money exists in escrow — waiting for a certified operator to release it.

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Regulatory Pressure Accelerating

CT and MA are drafting Universal Waste rules. Certified recycling demand is becoming legislatively guaranteed across the region.

Published Research

What the Studies Say About
Solar Decommissioning.

A growing body of peer-reviewed research, government studies, and industry analysis confirms the Northeast is at the epicenter of the coming solar end-of-life crisis — and the window to build responsible infrastructure is now.

NREL / DOE · 2025

78M

Panels Reaching End of Life by 2030

NREL estimates 78 million panels will reach end of life by 2030 in the US alone, with the Northeast representing a disproportionate share due to early adoption.

Wood Mackenzie · 2024

$11B

Value of Recoverable Materials by 2050

Silicon, copper, aluminum, and glass from end-of-life panels are projected to be worth $11 billion by 2050 — a significant circular economy opportunity.

Env. Science & Tech · 2024

90%

Of Panels Currently Going to Landfill

Approximately 90% of end-of-life or defective solar panels currently end up in landfills — not recycling facilities — creating massive and growing environmental liability.

2025 · DOE/NREL

PV RESOLVE Program — Solar End-of-Life Decision Support

DOE funded NREL's PV RESOLVE program in 2025 to support decision-making for continued operation, repowering, retirement, recycling, landfilling, refurbishment, repair, or resale of solar panels — recognizing decommissioning as a critical and underserved phase of the solar lifecycle.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory — Solar Energy Technologies Office, 2025

2024 · HBR

The Hidden Environmental Cost of Solar Panel Disposal

Harvard Business Review analysis found that by 2035, discarded panels will outweigh new units by 2.56x. Forecasts recycling costs of $20–30 per panel — but without mandatory legislation, the $1–2 landfill fee creates a powerful financial incentive to dispose rather than recycle, permanently destroying billions in material value.

Harvard Business Review — Solar Panel Lifecycle Waste Analysis, 2024

2024 · ES&T

Heavy Metal Leaching from End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels

Peer-reviewed research confirmed damaged and landfilled panels can leach lead, cadmium, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and selenium at concentrations that may fail the EPA's TCLP test — potentially classifying them as hazardous waste under RCRA and creating significant liability for property owners and landfill operators.

Environmental Science & Technology — Heavy Metal Leaching Study, 2024

2023 · IREC

Solar Decommissioning Policy: State-by-State Analysis

28 states now require solar developers to post decommissioning bonds — including NY, MA, CT, NJ, and NH. This creates a guaranteed revenue opportunity for certified decommissioning contractors who can satisfy bond release conditions.

Interstate Renewable Energy Council — Decommissioning Policy Report, 2023

2022 · Brookhaven

Critical Materials Recovery from Photovoltaic Modules

Brookhaven National Lab quantified recoverable material per standard panel: ~, ~20g copper, 5.5kg aluminum, 1.8kg silicon, 10kg glass. At scale, these materials represent significant supply chain value — particularly silicon, critical to new panel manufacturing.

Brookhaven National Laboratory — DOE Critical Materials Study, 2022

Market Opportunity

Four Forces Converging in Our Region.

Early adoption history, dense installed capacity, compact geography, and tightening regulation create a uniquely defensible first-mover opportunity.

First Wave

Early Adoption Maturing

NJ and MA systems installed 2010–2012 are hitting mid-life — generating immediate decommissioned feedstock streams today.

Legislation

Regulatory Push

CT and MA drafting Universal Waste rules making landfill disposal illegal. Certified recycling is legislatively guaranteed.

Upgrade Cycle

Repowering Trends

250W→450W+ panel swaps in identical footprints generating predictable, rolling decommissioned panel streams.

Geography

Logistics Advantage

Compact Northeast geography — one central facility in Southern NY services the entire 20 GW footprint cost-effectively.

What We Offer

End-to-End Solar Lifecycle Services

From field collection through certified materials recovery — designed for installers, utilities, IPPs, and municipalities.

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Field Reclamation

On-site decommissioning and panel removal. We dispatch directly to your site, handle logistics, and issue documentation — no third-party coordination needed.

Residential · Commercial · Utility-Scale

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Mobile Deframing & Pre-Processing

MPU on-site: aluminum frame removal and glass separation at 80+ panels per hour. 75% weight reduction before any material leaves the field.

On-Site · No Full-Panel Freight

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Materials Recovery & Refining

NESDAR is researching the feasibility to extract silicon, copper, and other valuable materials from decommissioned panels for resale to manufacturers and global secondary markets.

Si · Cu · Al · Glass

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Compliance Documentation

Full chain-of-custody certificates and recycling documentation for Universal Waste, ESG disclosures, and corporate sustainability commitments.

Certificates · Chain of Custody · ESG

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Strategic Consulting

End-of-life planning, decommissioning cost modeling, material value assessments, and regulatory pathway guidance for projects across the Northeast.

Planning · Modeling · Regulatory Guidance

Our Story

"We built solar for decades. We know what comes down — and we know what happens to it."

NESDAR was founded by solar installers and construction professionals with a combined 50MW of completed installations across residential, commercial, and utility-scale projects in the Northeast. We didn't discover this problem from a distance.

We watched panel after panel come down with nowhere responsible to go. That gap is why this company exists. We're not a waste company that discovered solar — we're solar people who decided someone had to build the other end of the cycle.

Paul McMenemy

Co-Founder - Renewable Energy Executive

35+ years spanning global energy investment banking and utility-scale solar development. Former Head of Energy Investment Banking at ABN AMRO (Wharton/Princeton). 100+ MW developed across 20+ greenfield sites. Co-founder of Harvest Power, an organics management company (Kleiner Perkins).

Solar DevelopmentProject FinanceEPC ManagementEnergy M&ADecommissioningIRR/NPV

Dave Kolts

Co-Founder · Field Operations

Solar installation and construction veteran with direct field experience across residential, commercial, and utility-scale projects throughout the Northeast. Identified the end-of-life recycling gap firsthand while working in active solar installation — and built this company to close it.

Solar InstallationConstruction ManagementField OperationsNortheast Markets

When Your Solar FieldLifecycle Ends,We Close the Loop.

Solar's Waste Wave Has No Infrastructure to Meet It.

What the Studies Say AboutSolar Decommissioning.

Four Forces Converging in Our Region.

End-to-End Solar Lifecycle Services

Ready to Decommission?

When Your Solar Field
Lifecycle Ends,
We Close the Loop.

What the Studies Say About
Solar Decommissioning.