DOE Loans Qcells US$1.45 Billion To Build Georgia Solar Supply Chain Facility
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to US$1.45 billion to Qcells, a North American crystalline silicon solar manufacturer. The loan guarantee will support Qcells’ solar supply chain facility in Cartersville, Georgia, which will produce ingots, wafers, cells, and finished solar panels. The facility will be the largest ingot and wafer plant ever built in the United States. The plant will reestablish critical parts of the domestic solar supply chain by being the first fully integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing facility constructed in the US in over a decade.
The project is expected to create approximately 1200 construction jobs and will support, upon completion, 1950 full-time operations jobs in Cartersville, Georgia. According to a recent economic review provided by the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, the investment will indirectly create nearly 6800 jobs in Georgia’s Bartow and Whitfield Counties and has a potential sales output of more than US$2 billion.
Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce 3.3 GW of solar panels per year, 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 (4.54 million tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
Qcells’ other solar factory, opened in 2019, is located one hour north of the facility site in Dalton, Georgia. According to Qcells, the experience gained from operating the Dalton facility, which was recently expanded to produce a total of 5.1 GW of solar panels per year, will benefit this new project.
The Cartersville plant will be the first vertically integrated factory in the US to produce ingots, wafers, cells, and panels under one roof in over a decade—strengthening domestic supply chains while helping create new economic opportunities for the local and surrounding communities. Qcells will make larger-format wafer sizes that lower costs and increase product performance.
The project will also help build the US solar industry while reshoring production capacity for solar components that are largely produced in China and Southeast Asia, boosting domestic supply chain resilience, and helping lower costs for customers and communities across the US.
The Qcells project benefits from the Section 45 Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit, also known as 45X, created by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes domestic manufacturing at each step of the solar supply chain. The solar panels produced at the Cartersville plant will help solar developers qualify for the IRA’s domestic content bonus for the clean energy production and investment tax credits. This bonus credit will encourage solar developers to buy US-made manufactured products and components. Since 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 US$16 billion in announced investments across 111 new facilities or expansions.
The solar panels produced by the Cartersville factory will be used for distributed and utility-scale projects. Qcells is also one of the ten largest utility-scale project developers for both solar and storage in the US with over 2 GW of projects developed or constructed and a project development pipeline of over 10 GW. The company has entered into an eight-year, 12 GW solar and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with Microsoft to be fulfilled with solar panels made in Cartersville.
The loan guarantee would be offered through LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which includes financing opportunities for energy and supply chain projects and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure.
LPO borrowers are expected to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan (CBP). CBPs ensure borrowers meaningfully engage with community and labor stakeholders to create good-paying jobs and improve the well-being of residents and workers. Qcells Georgia’s CBP outlines strong community and labor engagement; quality jobs; diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and commitments in support of the Justice40 Initiative. Established by Executive Order 14008, the Justice40 Initiative sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The project is located near disadvantaged communities with low-income populations and housing, transportation, and health burdens, according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
Qcells’ new manufacturing plant will benefit residents of Cartersville and other nearby communities. Approximately 40% to 50% percent of the construction work has been awarded to local contractors, including contractors from nearby Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The construction contractor is also partnering with Kennesaw State University in Georgia to hire recent construction management graduates. Qcells Georgia plans to offer job training and apprenticeships to local Cartersville residents who face barriers to employment.
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.
