Solar Energy Tech News
Photo voltaic panel maker Qcells plans to develop its Dalton plant — once more — and construct a brand new facility in Cartersville, which state leaders say is a $2.5 billion funding that can carry new 2,500 jobs in Georgia.
Additionally it is the newest in a string of high-profile inexperienced vitality initiatives deliberate for the state.
The South Korean firm plans to construct a 3rd facility in Dalton, the place it opened the biggest photo voltaic panel manufacturing facility within the Western Hemisphere in 2019. The fast-growing operation already expanded as soon as final yr.
The brand new web site in Bartow County will make use of 2,000 staff and produce 3.3 gigawatts of photo voltaic ingots, wafters, cells and end panels. Qcells, owned by South Korea-based Hanwha Options, plans to interrupt floor quickly within the coming months.
“We want to additional develop our low-carbon photo voltaic investments as we lead the business towards totally American-made clear vitality options,” Qcells CEO Justin Lee stated in a press release. . “At this time’s information is additional proof of our rising partnership with Georgia, the workforce there, and a good brighter future collectively.”
US Sens Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock stated the deliberate enlargement in Georgia would create the primary full photo voltaic provide chain in North America. Each attributed the announcement to the tax incentives they proposed that have been ultimately included in final yr’s Inflation Discount Act.
Ossoff hailed the announcement as “the biggest clear vitality manufacturing challenge in American historical past.”
When accomplished, the challenge is about to develop Qcells’ workforce to greater than 4,000 staff and convey Georgia’s whole photo voltaic panel manufacturing capability to eight.4 gigawatts by 2024.
“I’m honored to announce the expansion of Qcells in Georgia for the second time in lower than a yr,” stated Gov. Brian Kemp in a press release.
He attributed the state’s logistics infrastructure challenge, workforce coaching program and a business-friendly setting that “imply jobs for hardworking Georgians in each nook of the state and success for present and future corporations.”
