Qcells starts cell production at Georgia factory in milestone for US solar

Qcells, the U.S. solar arm of Korea's Hanwha, has started making solar cells at its Cartersville, Georgia factory, the company said on Tuesday, a milestone for the United States' push to reduce reliance on imported equipment from Asia.

Cell production is a critical step towards Qcells' goal to manufacture all the key components that go into a silicon-based solar panel. Solar cells are the building blocks of modules, or panels, that convert sunlight into electricity.

The United States currently boasts 3.2 gigawatts ​of solar cell capacity but 60 GW of panel capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. That means that today, most solar cells that supply domestic ⁠module factories ​are imported.

At the same time, trade tensions and restrictions targeting Chinese-linked suppliers have disrupted imports, increasing the urgency of building domestic capacity.

Production from the Qcells facility would nearly double existing U.S. cell capacity.

"Cell production has really been the key thing that as a country we've been trying to get back into the United States," Scott Moskowitz, Qcells' vice president of market strategy, said in an interview.

Qcells said the Cartersville facility will have annual capacity of 3.3 GW each of ingots, wafers and cells, and 3.5 gigawatts of modules. The site is expected to become the largest solar cell factory in U.S. history when it reaches full production in the third quarter of this year.

U.S. solar manufacturing has long lagged China, the dominant global supplier of solar components. Washington has sought to boost domestic production through subsidies and trade measures, including tax credits tied to locally made equipment.

Qcells announced a $2.5 billion investment in its U.S. supply chain in 2023 and has been one of the largest beneficiaries of these policies.