Hanwha Qcells secures $1.45bn loan guarantee for US solar manufacturing facility

Hanwha Qcells Georgia has secured a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) to fund the development of a solar supply chain facility in Cartersville, Georgia. 

This facility will become the largest ingot and wafer production plant in the US and the first fully integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing plant in over a decade.

The plant will produce 3.3GW of solar panels annually, powering half a million American homes and cutting over five million tons of CO₂e emissions per year. The panels will be used in various Qcells projects, including a major eight-year, 12GW solar agreement with Microsoft.

This investment is part of the LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing program and aligns with the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of creating quality job opportunities, with 1,200 construction jobs and 1,650 operational roles expected in Cartersville.

The plant also supports the reshoring of solar manufacturing capacity to enhance US supply chain resilience and contribute to domestic clean energy goals. It may benefit from the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes US-made solar products.