The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.45 billion to Qcells. This funding is set to support the expansion of Qcells’ solar plant operations in Georgia, where the company will produce solar ingots, wafers, cells and panels.
U.S. to Build Largest Solar Manufacturing Facility
The new facility will be the largest ingot and wafer plant in the United States, marking a significant step toward rebuilding key segments of the domestic solar supply chain. As the first fully integrated, silicon-based solar manufacturing plant in the U.S. in over a decade, it will address critical gaps in the solar manufacturing sector and strengthen the country’s position as a global leader in clean energy.
Solar panel manufacturing facility
Once operational, the facility is projected to produce 3.3 GW of solar panels annually, enough to supply half a million U.S. households. Qcells’ existing factory, which opened in 2019 in Dalton, Georgia—just an hour north of the new site—produces 5.1 GW of panels per year after a recent expansion. Qcells will apply its experience from operating the Dalton plant to this new project.
Energy Project to Create 6,800 Jobs and $2 Billion Sales Output
The solar plant is expected to create 1,200 construction jobs and, once completed, 1,950 full-time operational positions. Approximately 40% to 50% of the construction work will go to local contractors, including those from Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. An economic review by the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development estimates that the investment will create nearly 6,800 jobs across Bartow and Whitfield Counties and could yield a sales output exceeding $2 billion.
Qcells to Build Solar Panels for Utility and Residential Use
The panels manufactured at the site will be suitable for both distributed and utility-scale applications. Qcells is also a major developer of utility-scale solar and storage projects in the U.S., with over 2 GW of projects either developed or constructed and a pipeline exceeding 10 GW. The company has signed an 8-year, 12 GW solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with Microsoft, which will be supplied with panels from the Cartersville plant.
Components produced by the project are expected to qualify for the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit. The panels manufactured at the site should also help Qcells’ projects qualify for the 10% domestic content tax credit bonus.
The DOE stated, “Since the IRA’s passage, over 325 GW of manufacturing capacity has been announced across the solar supply chain, representing more than 31,000 potential jobs and nearly $16 billion in announced investments across 111 new facilities or expansions.”