Qcells, a South Korean company leader in the production of photovoltaic panels, intends invest heavily in the United States, building a new solar manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Georgia.
The company is currently the only company to establish a fully integrated silicon-based solar supply chainfrom raw material to finished panel within US borders.
The process that the producer wants to follow foresees the start of works in the current quarter for the construction of the new plant in Bartow County, Georgia, which will produce 3.3 gigawatts of finished solar ingots, wafers, cells and panels.
The Bartow production hub will join the Dalton one, in turn located in Georgia, opened by Qcells in 2019; at full capacity the latter is producing 2GW of solar panels a year and is currently the largest solar cell manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere.
The South Korean company’s development plans are not finished.
In addition to the initial investment to build the Bartow hub, Qcells plans to hire 510 permanent workers and increase Dalton’s productivity to 3.4 GW and hire an additional 535 people.
The investment is expected to bring Qcells’ total solar panel manufacturing capacity in Georgia to 8.4 GW by 2024, employing 4,000 people indefinitely.
An investment of this type was also made possible by American legislation, which in August 2021 approved the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Actintroduced by Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
The law promotes solar cell manufacturing by providing tax credits for US manufacturers at every stage of the solar manufacturing supply chain.
Qcells CEO Justin Lee said in a statement: “We worked closely with Senator Ossoff to get his solar generation legislation into law, which helped make today’s historic investment possible. We look forward to continuing our close partnership with Senator Ossoff to create all-American-made and sustainable solar solutions, starting here in Georgia.”
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