Qcells aims to reestablish critical parts of the U.S. solar supply chain by manufacturing ingots, wafers, cells, and finished solar modules.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced the closing of a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Hanwha Qcells. Aiming to reestablish critical parts of the U.S. solar supply chain, the loan guarantee will support Qcell’s solar manufacturing facility, which will produce ingots, wafers, cells, and finished solar modules.
Qcell’s Georgia facility will reportedly be the largest ingot and wafer plant built in the U.S. and be the first fully integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing facility constructed in the United States in over a decade.
DOE initially announced a conditional commitment to support the project in August, which required Qcells to satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions for the loan to become finalized.
The loan guarantee is offered through LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which includes financing opportunities for innovative energy and supply chain projects and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure.
The project will produce components that are expected to benefit from the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit. Additionally, the solar panels manufactured at the plant will help developers qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) domestic content 10% tax credit bonus.
Since the IRA’s passage, more than 335 GW of manufacturing capacity has been announced across the solar supply chain, representing more than 33,000 potential jobs and nearly $17 billion in announced investments across 118 new facilities or expansions, the DOE said.
The facility will produce 3.3 GW of solar panels annually, enough to supply panels to half a million American households. As a result, the project will reduce emissions from power generation by more than 5 million tons per year, DOE said.
Located in Cartersville, Georgia, the project will be near disadvantaged communities with low-income populations and housing, transportation, and health burdens, according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. DOE said it expects the project to create about 1,200 construction jobs, and upon completion, about 1,650 full-time operations jobs for Cartersville residents.
About 40% to 50% of the construction work was awarded to local contractors, including contractors from Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. According to an economic review by the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, the investment will create nearly 6,800 jobs in Bartow and Whitfield Counties and has a potential sales output of more than $2 billion.
