World's first solar-powered furnaces unveiled to recycle luxury steel

Swiss company Panatere has unveiled the world’s first two solar-powered furnaces designed to recycle high-quality steel waste from precision industries such as watchmaking and medical manufacturing. Located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, these pilot systems use concentrated solar energy to melt stainless steel offcuts at temperatures up to 1,450°C (2,642°F) without fossil fuels. The larger furnace employs a 138-square-meter heliostat with 40 movable mirrors directing sunlight onto a 10-meter-wide concave dish, while the smaller system uses a 30-square-meter heliostat and a compact concentrator with about 460 mirrors. Both systems amplify sunlight intensity thousands of times to melt metal scraps, which are then recast into new ingots. Supported by research institutions under the Interreg France–Switzerland program, Panatere aims to refine this technology and open a full-scale factory by 2028, potentially producing up to 1,000 tons of recycled steel annually powered solely by solar energy