Hanwha Q Cells Co., a total energy solution provider under South Korea’s Hanwha Group, has secured an annual solar module production capacity of 8.4 gigawatts (GW), becoming the largest silicon solar module company in the United States.

Hanwha Q Cells announced Tuesday that it completed the construction of a new module production facility at its Cartersville plant in Georgia, the U.S., in April and began full-scale production.

The Cartersville plant is part of the company‘s Solar Hub, an integrated solar production complex in the U.S., which is expected to produce up to 3.3GW of solar modules per year.

When combined with the 5.1 GW of annual solar module production from the Dalton factory in Georgia, which the company built in 2019 and expanded in 2023, Hanwha Q Cells is capable of producing up to 8.4GW of solar modules annually in North America alone.

This is enough to power more than 1.3 million U.S. homes for a year, making it the largest single-company production in North America.

Furthermore, the company will build production facilities for solar ingots, wafers, and cells, each with an annual capacity of 3.3GW in 2025, completing the value chain of a 1.54 million-square-meter solar facility in Cartersville alone.

According to market research firm BNEF, U.S. solar installations grew from 10.2GW in 2018 to 18.7GW in 2020, and 33GW in 2023.

With the solar capacity projected to increase sharply to 38GW in 2024, Hanwha Q Cells is expected to see its market influence expand further.

“With the completion of this facility, we will become the only company in North America to manufacture the entire solar value chain, including solar modules, cells, ingots, and wafers,” said a Hanwha Q Cells official.

Hanwha Q Cells posted 778.5 billion won in sales in the first quarter of 2024, down 67 percent from the same period a year ago. Its operating loss stood at 187.1 billion won.

This was primarily due to a decrease in sales volume and low-price offensives from Chinese solar companies.

Concerns were raised about the company’s North American market strategy, but Hanwha Q Cells is determined to push forward with the completion of its factories as planned.

The company’s scheduled closure of its Chinese production plant in June will completely shift its production of solar equipment to the U.S. Hanwha Q Cells plans to intensify its U.S. market strategies following this transition.

”With this expansion, we will secure production capacities of 3.3GW for ingots and wafers, 12.2GW for solar cells, and 11.2GW for solar modules annually from global production bases in the United States, Malaysia, and Korea starting in 2025,“ the official said. ”Ingots and wafers will be produced only in the U.S., and 75 percent of solar modules will also be manufactured in U.S. factories.“

As trade barriers against Chinese goods also increase, with anti-dumping and countervailing duties being imposed on Chinese goods in the U.S. starting in 2024, Hanwha Q Cells is also expected to finalize its response strategy to overcome the crisis in the first quarter of the year.

Another positive factor for Hanwha Q Cells is that the amount of Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit (AMPC) that the U.S. government will provide the company under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will increase significantly due to the expansion of the solar module production.

The 2GW of solar modules to be produced at the Cartersville plant will add approximately $140 million in tax credits in 2024 alone.

Furthermore, when production of solar equipment products such as wafers, cells, and ingots is fully expanded starting next year, the tax benefits will increase up to $875 million.

”Our Solar Hub project is progressing smoothly, with commercial production of the first module underway at the Cartersville plant,“ said Hanwha Q Cells CEO Lee Koo-yung. ”We will strengthen our leading position in the U.S. by expanding our manufacturing capacity and renewable energy business simultaneously.“

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]