Solar panel maker Qcells has given its conditional commitment to a $1.45 billion federal loan guarantee to build a solar supply chain manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Georgia.

Qcells’ facility will manufacture ingots, wafers, cells, and finished panels at a multi-gigawatt scale. Qcells is investing more than $2.5 billion to boost domestic solar manufacturing.

Between Qcells’ factory in Dalton and progress in Cartersville, the company’s full annual solar production capacity in Georgia is anticipated to reach 8.4 GW by the end of this year, which is enough solar to power nearly 1.3 million homes a year. 

The loan was granted despite a two-year oversupply of solar panels accumulated in U.S. warehouses, which caused solar panel prices to nosedive, according to the US Energy Department.

While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.  

Solar component maker Sunmax Tech is building a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Adairsville, about an hour NW of Atlanta. The facility is set to commence Phase I operations in May 2024.

Sunmax Tech plans to execute a comprehensive investment strategy over the next five to eight years, encompassing three distinct phases. In Phase I, the company will invest $39 million to establish a manufacturing facility and procure equipment for solar photovoltaic junction boxes and solar cables, creating 82 new job positions. The company is a supplier for Hanwha and Tesla.

The subsequent phases will witness additional investments of $76 million and $78 million in Phase II and Phase III, respectively. These phases will focus on expanding production capabilities to include EVA film, cable line plastic material, aluminum solar frames, and copper wire, creating a total of 242 new job positions.

By 2027, the company anticipates achieving annual sales of $100 million and capturing over 40% market share in photovoltaic junction boxes and connectors across North America.