HANWHA Q CELLS LOOKS TO SITE MASSIVE SOLAR FACTORY

By Christian Roselund

In what could be the first large manufacturing project spurred by the IRA, Hanwha Q Cells is scouting locations for a factory to produce ingots, wafers, solar cells, and modules in the United States. The factory would be the first U.S. ingot and wafer operation since SolarWorld closed its ingot pulling in Oregon. And at 9 gigawatts of output, it would be larger than the crystalline silicon module capacity of all other factories in the United States combined. Hanwha has filed applications with Texas school districts related to tax matters for the factory. pv magazine also states that Hanwha is considering South Carolina and Georgia, where the company is currently expanding its crystalline silicon module production capacity from 1.7 gigawatts to 3.1 gigawatts annually.

Additionally, in November 2021 Hanwha Q Cells invested $160.47 million in REC Silicon, which the company said at the time was a move to secure a supply of polysilicon to meet growing U.S. demand for domestic product. REC Silicon has said that the investment will enable it to re-start production of solar-grade polysilicon at its Moses Lake site in the state of Washington in 2023.

Source: Application (Texas Comptroller) News coverage: Nine gigawatt solar manufacturing facility being scouted for Qcell module manufacturing (pv magazine)