The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to the tune of $1.45B to support Qcellls’ highly anticipated solar supply chain manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Georgia.
The LPO is a premier public financing partner for high-impact, large-scale energy infrastructure projects in the U.S. Upon finalization of the loan, it will support Qcells as it breaks ground on the construction of the facility that will manufacture the full solar supply chain.
A historic first, the Qcells facility will manufacture ingots, wafers, cells, and finished panels at a multi-gigawatt scale. Additionally, the company will invest more than $2.5 billion to boost domestic solar manufacturing to accelerate the country’s clean energy transition.
Between Qcells’ Dalton factory and the Cartersville project, the company’s full annual solar production capacity in Georgia is expected to reach 8.4 GW by year’s end, which is enough solar to power nearly 1.3 million homes a year, in addition to adding 3,800 direct jobs and nearly 7,000 jobs in total in surrounding counties.
Qcells responded to the announcement, stating, “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. The ongoing support for our investments, stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act and the efforts of local to federal officials, affirms the importance of this critical industry and the need for a whole of government approach to see domestic solar manufacturing succeed long term.”
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