Qcells Starts Cell Production at Cartersville, Completing the First Vertically Integrated US Solar Factory From Ingot to Panel
Qcells began making solar cells at its Cartersville, Georgia plant, the first US factory to produce ingots, wafers, cells and modules under one roof.
Overview
Qcells has begun manufacturing solar cells at its plant in Cartersville, Georgia, a step the company says makes the site the first US factory to produce the major parts of a solar module under a single roof. Renewable Energy World described the milestone as the first vertically integrated solar facility in the United States now in operation, and the first US factory to produce the major parts of a solar photovoltaic module under one roof.
What We Know
The Cartersville lines bring together every upstream step of crystalline-silicon panel production. At full capacity, the facility is expected to make 3.3 GW each of ingots, wafers and cells, plus 3.5 GW of modules per year, according to Renewable Energy World. The company expects to reach full production by the third quarter of 2026, the same outlet reports.
Combined with the company’s existing Dalton, Georgia plant, the two Georgia sites are expected to produce 8.6 GW of modules a year, according to Renewable Energy World. The two sites together make 47,000 panels daily, with Cartersville’s module assembly turning out 16,700 panels a day, the same outlet reports.
Andy Park, Qcells’ global CEO, framed the start of cell output as a domestic-manufacturing landmark. “Producing the first solar cells at Cartersville is a milestone for Qcells and for American manufacturing. As our ingot, wafer, and cell lines reach full capacity, we’ll be making the major components of a solar panel right here in Georgia,” he said, according to Renewable Energy World.
Background
The Cartersville plant is the centerpiece of a $2.8 billion investment in the company’s US solar supply chain, according to Utility Dive. The same outlet described the site as the country’s largest ingot and wafer plant. The project is backed by a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, announced December 19, 2024, according to the Department of Energy. The DOE called it “the largest ingot and wafer plant ever built in the United States” and said the facility would create approximately 1,650 full-time operations jobs while producing 3.3 GW of solar panels per year, enough to supply panels to half a million American households and to reduce emissions from power generation by more than 5 million tons of CO2e per year.
Much of that output is already committed. Qcells has signed an eight-year, 12 GW solar and engineering, procurement, and construction agreement with Microsoft, according to the Department of Energy, a deal Utility Dive also reported as covering 12 GW of solar modules and engineering, procurement and construction services over eight years.
The milestone lands amid a broader expansion of US solar. The technology recently overtook coal in US electricity generation for the first full month on record, and a major utility this month crossed one million customer solar interconnections. Cartersville targets the upstream end of that growth, where ingot and wafer production has long been dominated by overseas suppliers.
What We Don’t Know
The announcements do not detail how quickly the ingot, wafer and cell lines will ramp to their stated 3.3 GW capacities, nor the production yield during the initial ramp. The company says full production is expected by the third quarter of 2026 but has not published interim output figures. The longer-term cost competitiveness of US-made vertically integrated panels against imported cells and modules also remains an open question that the cited sources do not address.