The federal government has announced its first loan to a crystalline silicon solar plant: $1.45 billion to aid South Korea's Hanwha Group in establishing a significant facility in the United States. This loan, pivotal to funding Qcells' $2.2 billion complex in Georgia, will help transform polysilicon refined in Washington state into ingots, wafers, and solar cells. The facility, located in Cartersville, aims to bolster the American solar supply chain.
The Inflation Reduction Act, under President Biden, incentivizes the production of American-made solar equipment. "This loan is special, because it's one of the first facilities where we're not just making modules, but we're making cells and wafers as well," stated Jigar Shah, director of the Energy Department's loan programs. The plant, designed to produce 3.3 gigawatts of solar panels annually, already employs 750 people, with projections to reach 2,000 upon completion.
Qcells also operates a $630 million plant in Dalton, Georgia, with 1,800 employees and a capacity of 5.1 gigawatts per year. The Energy Department noted the Cartersville site will be the largest ingot and wafer plant in the US and will give Qcells a combined solar panel output sufficient to power nearly 1.3 million homes. Qcells must meet specific loan conditions, yet remains optimistic given Marta Stoepker's statement: "This loan…is going to be massively critical for us to stay on track with our goal of really onshoring the supply chain and making it in America." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)