Qcells expands Georgia solar factory as U.S. solar policy shifts

Workers and an assembly of robots move ultra-thin slices of polysilicon through a process to create cells inside the Qcells factory in Cartersville, Georgia.

The thin cells are the building blocks of a solar panel.

The facility is located about an hour northwest of Atlanta, and in June, it started an expansion to bring the entire process of making a solar panel under one roof.

Scott Bell of Qcells said producing a solar panel fully in one facility is a large-scale project.

“The $2.5 billion, the 3.5 million gallons of water, the 90 megawatts of power, the 60 tons of chemicals on site, and all of the football fields’ worth of infrastructure you’ve seen is to arrive at this,” he said.

China has dominated solar panel manufacturing since the 2010s. The U.S. is now trying to bring back domestic production, and the facility will be a major milestone for the industry in the U.S.

The Biden administration attempted to attract solar panel manufacturers through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included tax credit bonuses for solar projects. The South Korean firm QCells credited those incentives as the reason for its Cartersville plant.

However, the Trump administration has taken a different approach. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” revoked most of the tax credits and made solar equipment from certain countries, like China, ineligible for the remaining tax credits. With the new tariffs as well, U.S. manufacturers might be able to compete with Chinese imports.

Ben Damiani is the chief technology officer at Atlanta-based solar developer Cherry Street Energy. He said the shifting policies create a challenge.

“Look at the investment from Q Cells. You can’t make that investment, and then fully expect to reap the profit within an election cycle of four years,” he said.

The clean energy advocacy group E2 tracked nearly $13 billion in abandoned investments in solar, wind, and battery projects in the first quarter of this year while some $18 billion in new projects were announced to meet the deadline of the expiring tax credits.