S. Korea's Hanwha Qcells to invest $2.5 bln in U.S. solar supply chain (updated)

Rec Silicon ASA

11/01/2023 14:56

(Adds details about labor crunch and link to Reuters INSIGHT
story)
    By Nichola Groom
       Jan 11 (Reuters) - South Korean solar energy company
Qcells on Wednesday said it would invest $2.5 billion to expand
its manufacturing capacity in the United States, creating as
many as 2,500 jobs in Georgia. 
    The announcement by the solar division of conglomerate
Hanwha Corp  000880.KS  is one of the biggest corporate
manufacturing commitments since the passage of U.S. President
Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes over
$300 billion in subsidies to tackle climate change.
    Some of those incentives are aimed at boosting domestic
manufacturing of clean energy products that are currently made
primarily in China, such as solar cells and panels. 
        However, some U.S. companies are concerned that it will
be difficult to find enough 
    labor
     to support their expansion plans, and are offering higher
wages, benefits, and free training programs.
  
    Qcells in a statement said it would expand its existing
solar panel factory in Dalton, Georgia, and open a second
facility in Cartersville. Production will begin there in 2024.
    The new factory will make solar panel components including
silicon ingots, wafers and cells, as well as the modules
themselves. Currently, most solar panels assembled in the United
States use components made in Asia.
    Qcells said it will also expand its existing solar panel
assembly operations in Dalton by 2 gigawatts a year to 5.1 GW as
soon as this year.
    The White House touted the announcement as evidence the IRA
legislation was working. 
    "I think it's fair to say that this deal is President
Biden's vision come to life," John Podesta, a top White House
climate adviser, said on a call with reporters. "A major global
business chose America as the place to invest in to help build
our clean energy future and create thousands of good paying
middle class jobs in the process." 
    Hanwha last year took a stake in Norway's REC Silicon, which
plans to restart production of polysilicon, a key raw material
in solar panels, at its Moses Lake, Washington, plant later this
year.
 (Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by David Gregorio and Mark
Porter)
 ((nichola.groom@thomsonreuters.com;))