Solar panel manufacturer Qcells is getting a boost to its plant project in Cartersville, Ga., with a $1.45-billion loan guarantee conditional commitment from the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, officials announced Aug. 8.
Qcells plans to produce “the full solar supply chain” of ingots, wafers, cells and finished solar panels at the plant. The 3.3-GW-capacity facility would be the largest ingot and wafer plant in the U.S., and the first integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing site built domestically in more than a decade, according to the agency.
“We have made such ambitious investments because we believe onshoring solar manufacturing is key to building a sustainable, secure and independent energy future in the U.S.,” Qcells said in a statement.
Gray Construction, Lexington, Ky., is the design-build contractor leading the project that is set to.operate by the end of the year, according to Qcells, which has another plant built by Gray that opened in 2019 north in Dalton, Ga. The contractor also led a project to expand that plant, which it completed last year to expand its capacity to 5.1 GW.
The new plant would produce larger wafers that lower costs and increase performance for utility-scale solar projects. Qcells says it is investing a total of $2.5 billion in the Cartersville project and the Dalton expansion.
The manufacturer has already signed an eight-year, 12-GW solar and EPC agreement with Microsoft for panels to be made at the Cartersville plant.
The project will benefit from an advanced manufacturing tax credit included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act aimed to help solar developers qualify for credits for using U.S.-made products, according to DOE. Manufacturers have announced plans to add more than 325 GW of capacity since lawmakers passed the act.
The agency program is aimed to help onshore or re-shore U.S. manufacturing in key sectors. Last month, it offered a similar $1.2-billion commitment to Entek for its electric vehicle battery component plant project in Terre Haute, Ind.
