DOE loan office backs Qcells with $1.45 billion for new solar panel factory The plant is expected to produce ingots, wafers, cells and finished solar panels by late 2024.

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced today a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.45 billion to Qcells, a leading 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 site is expected to begin producing ingots, wafers, cells and panels in late 2024.

The facility will be the largest ingot and wafer plant ever built in the United States and will reestablish critical parts of the domestic solar supply chain and reinforce the United States’ status as a global clean energy leader. The factory will also be the first fully integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing facility constructed in the United States in over a decade, helping address gaps in the domestic solar manufacturing supply chain.

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. Qcells’ other solar factory, opened in 2019, is located one hour north of the facility site in Dalton, Georgia. 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 United States 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 U.S. 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 United States.

Projects like the one announced today will benefit from the Section 45 Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit, also known as 45X, created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes domestic manufacturing at each step of the solar supply chain. Further, 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 U.S.-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 $16 billion in announced investments across 111 new facilities or expansions — underscoring how the Investing in America agenda is growing America’s clean energy economy and catalyzing historic levels of private sector investments across the nation.

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 United States with over 2 GW of projects developed or constructed and a project development pipeline of 10+ GW. The company has entered into an 8-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 innovative energy and supply chain projects and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure.

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to build an equitable and inclusive clean energy future, 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 (DEIA); and commitments in support of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s 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 (located about 43 miles from Atlanta) and other nearby communities. Approximately 40 to 50% of the construction work has been awarded to local contractors, including contractors from Atlanta, Georgia 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.

News item from the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO)

See a list of U.S. solar manufacturers here.