Overview
- Qcells said on Tuesday that it has begun making silicon solar cells at its integrated Cartersville, Georgia factory, marking the first step in the plant's production ramp.
- The company expects the Cartersville site to reach full output by the third quarter of 2026 with about 3.3 gigawatts a year of ingots, wafers and cells and 3.5 gigawatts of module assembly.
- When Cartersville hits full run rate it will nearly double current U.S. cell capacity and become the largest solar‑cell factory in the country, and combined with Qcells’ Dalton plant the two sites will yield about 8.6 gigawatts of module output.
- The Cartersville campus also houses a recycling line capable of processing roughly 250 megawatts of panels a year and will feed new energy‑storage and home‑builder product lines that expand Qcells beyond panel assembly.
- Federal manufacturing tax credits and recent trade measures have driven the surge in domestic solar manufacturing that lifted module capacity from about 8 GW before the subsidies to roughly 69.9 GW by June 2026, and Qcells says its multibillion‑dollar U.S. investments will create nearly 4,000 Georgia jobs by the end of 2026.