The U.S. government is issuing a $1.45 billion loan to support a South Korean company, Qcells, a unit of Hanwha Group, in constructing a $2.2 billion crystalline silicon solar plant in Cartersville, Georgia. This loan from the U.S. Energy Department marks the first direct loan to a plant involved in the solar supply chain within the United States. Qcells plans to refine polysilicon in Washington state and produce ingots, wafers, and solar cells at the Cartersville complex.
President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act offers additional tax credits for American-made solar equipment and provides incentives for polysilicon refinement, wafer, cell, and module manufacturing. Jigar Shah, the director of the Energy Department’s loan programs, highlighted the significance of this loan in bringing more of the solar supply chain into the United States.
The Cartersville plant, with an annual capacity of 3.3 gigawatts of solar panels, currently employs around 750 workers and is expected to reach 2,000 employees upon completion. Qcells aims to finish the wafer and cell sections of the plant by December. The company also operates a 5.1 gigawatt plant in Dalton, Georgia, without government loans, importing cells for that facility.
Qcells’ Cartersville plant will be the largest ingot and wafer plant in the U.S., expected to produce enough solar panels to power nearly 1.3 million homes annually, thus reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Microsoft Corp. has already committed to purchasing a significant portion of the Cartersville plant’s output over eight years.
To receive the loan, Qcells must meet specific conditions, which the company believes it can fulfill. Despite this financial support, the company emphasizes the importance of ongoing aid from the Biden administration to safeguard domestic solar manufacturing against cheap imports from Asian countries. They seek tariffs to counter below-cost dumping by companies linked to China and further guidance on tax credit incentives for American-made equipment.
Jigar Shah expressed confidence that the United States is well-positioned to develop a reliable domestic solar supply chain capable of meeting a substantial portion of its solar panel demands in the coming years. U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff praised the loan, highlighting the benefits it brings to Georgia’s economy and American energy independence.
