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Unit Hanwha Qcells plans to build a new plant in Bartow County, Georgia, to make 3.3 gigawatts of solar ingots, wafers, cells and panels, the company said in a statement Wednesday. It also committed to assembling two gigawatts of modules at its factory site in the northwest part of the state, which is already the biggest panel plant in the Western Hemisphere.
The US is racing to boost domestically made cleantech supplies in its fight against climate change — while also attempting to cut its reliance on imported panels. President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes generous incentives for solar, battery and electric-vehicle manufacturing, has sparked a wave of new factory announcements.
“We’re going to see a lot more companies like Qcells breaking ground,” John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation, said in a briefing with reporters. “The Inflation Reduction Act will create more of those stories.”
Nonetheless, solar equipment from overseas will be a key part of the US supply chain for years to come. While domestic panel manufacturing has slowly picked up since the Trump administration, China dominates the making of wafers, which are ultra-thin polysilicon squares that are pieced together to make modules.
US dependence on Chinese solar makers has led to occasional slowdowns in the country’s panel installations. In recent years, there have been Covid-related manufacturing delays, trade spats, allegations of forced labor in a region of China and supply snarls at US ports.
Qcells said the expansion will create more than 2,000 jobs in Georgia. Ground breaking on the Bartow County facility is expected this quarter.
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