Qcells, a South Korean solar manufacturer with facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia, is now manufacturing solar cells, a critical step whereby the company is now manufacturing the major components of a solar module all under one roof.
The solar manufacturer said it expects to be at full production in its Cartersville facility by Q3 2026, producing an estimated 3.3 GW each of ingots, wafers, cells, and 3.5 GW of modules a year.
Qcells also has a manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia, which tripled its module capacity to 5.1 GW in late 2023. At full capacity, the two facilities can produce 8.6 GW of solar modules, or approximately 47,000 panels, annually, Qcells reports.
“Producing the first solar cells at Cartersville is a milestone for Qcells and for American manufacturing,” said Andy Park, Global CEO of Qcells. “A dependable domestic supply chain doesn’t just create thousands of good-paying jobs, it gives our customers greater certainty on price, supply, and tariffs, and a product they can trust from start to finish.
By the end of 2026, Qcells said it expects to employ a combined workforce of nearly 4,000 people across the two Georgia sites.
The addition of 3.3 GW of cells to the U.S. solar supply chain comes at a critical time when electricity demand at an all-time high, according to a recent report by Enverus, and solar projects rush to begin construction before the deadline for tax credit eligibility.
In a recent webinar on U.S. solar manufacturing, Jade Jones, senior director, solar products manufacturing and supply chain for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) noted that the current state of U.S. solar manufacturing is “an exciting story.” She noted that manufacturing is taking place in 43 states and Puerto Rico, and that for some solar products, domestic capacity is sufficient to meet domestic demand.
“There are gaps upstream, but upstream manufacturing buildout typically follows downstream build out,” said Jones.
According to SEIA, solar module manufacturing has grown from 8 GW prior to the federal manufacturing tax credits to 69.9 GW as of June 2026, which is an increase of more than 750%. In 2024, U.S. solar cell manufacturing was onshored for the first time since 2019, and SEIA reports that about 30 GW of manufacturing is now under construction.
While U.S. solar module manufacturing has seen steady growth since 2018, ingot, wafer and cell manufacturing has only just begun to rise. In a press conference last year, Scott Moskowitz, vice president of market strategy and industrial affairs at Qcells, said the company had invested over $3 billion to embrace the challenge of building out the entire supply chain on U.S. soil.
In addition to completing its vertically integrated solar manufacturing facility, Qcells has expanded its reach into other areas of the clean energy industry including recycling and energy storage.
The company’s first recycling operation, which is based in the Cartersville facility, is expected to have the ability to recycle approximately 250 MW of solar panels annually, or approximately 500,000 panels per year.
Qcell’s foray into energy storage, dubbed “Qcells New Homes,” is a new business division designed to provide builders with a turnkey solution for integrating solar and battery storage into new construction projects.
“With storage, EPC, and solar recycling also in our portfolio, we are far more than a panel company,” Moskowitz told pv magazine USA. “We are building the clean energy infrastructure this country needs.”
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