- Qcells has expanded its solar module production capacity in Georgia, US to over 5.1 GW
- It will introduce 2 new panels, one each for residential and commercial & utility markets
- By 2024, it will expand the total PV manufacturing capacity to 8.4 GW comprising ingot to module plans in Cartersville
Qcells North America, the local solar manufacturing arm of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, has expanded its total solar module production capacity in the US with the addition of 2 GW. It takes the company’s total US module capacity to over 5.1 GW.
The company’s 1.7 GW Dalton, Georgia fab came online in 2019 with the capacity to produce 12,000 modules/day. In 2022, it announced plans to build a new module assembly plant with 1.4 GW capacity (see Qcells Picks Georgia For 1.4 GW US Module Fab). It further added 2 GW to take the $2.5 billion expansion to over 5.1 GW.
This takes the manufacturer’s total annual module production capacity in the US to nearly 30,000 solar panels/day. The company has added 510 new jobs in the process, which it aims to increase to around 1,800 by 2024-end.
The management said, “The Qcells Dalton factory is the largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the first solar panel plant expansion since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
Qcells will use the expansion to add 2 new products to its portfolio—the Q.TRON G2 residential solar panel and a bifacial panel for commercial and utility markets. These modules will likely achieve the EPEAT ecolabel, explained the management, that helps customers identify sustainably made products.
The manufacturer is also building a vertically integrated solar supply chain fab in Georgia’s Cartersville where it will produce solar ingots, wafers, cells and modules. Between Dalton and Cartersville, Qcells will have a total solar PV manufacturing capacity of 8.4 GW in the US by 2024 (see Hanwha Solutions Planning 8.4 GW US Production Capacity).
According to a September 2023 The Korea Economic Daily report, while the company brought forward its US fab that was scheduled to come online by the end of 2023, a subsidiary of Hanwha Solutions Corp. reportedly suspended production at its 2.9 GW Eumseong fab in South Korea due to ‘weaker demand’.
Softer domestic demand in South Korea is cited as the reason for the company also lowering the utilization rates of another 2.9 GW module and 5 GW cell fab in Jincheon as the government trains focus on expansion nuclear energy.
