• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

Biggest Solar Investment in U.S. History to Bring 2,500 Jobs to Georgia

January 12, 2023
Reading time: 4 minutes
Full Story: The Associated Press @AP
Primary Author: Jeff Amy @jeffamy

QCells/wikimedia commons

QCells/wikimedia commons

5
SHARES
 

A South Korean solar panel maker Qcells said Wednesday that it will invest more than US$2.5 billion to build factories in Georgia in what it says is the largest solar investment in American history.

The company, a unit of Hanwha Solutions, projects it will supply about 30% of total U.S. solar panel demand by 2027, including making solar panel components usually manufactured outside the United States. The Associated Press reports.

  • The climate news you need. Subscribe now to our engaging new weekly digest.
  • You’ll receive exclusive, never-before-seen-content, distilled and delivered to your inbox every weekend.
  • The Weekender: Succinct, solutions-focused, and designed with the discerning reader in mind.
New!
Subscribe

“As demand for clean energy continues to grow nationally, we’re ready to put thousands of people to work creating fully American made and sustainable solar solutions, from raw material to finished panels,” Qcells CEO Justin Lee said in a statement.

President Joe Biden described the announcement as “a win for workers, consumers, and our climate”. He said in a statement that it would provide good jobs, reduce American reliance on other countries for solar components, reduce the cost of solar panels, and help lower carbon emissions.

A new $2.31-billion plant in Cartersville, about 35 miles (55 kilometres) northwest of Atlanta, will hire 2,000 workers and fulfill one of the aims of the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed in August.

The law included provisions from Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democrats, allowing companies to claim tax credits for making solar panel parts.

The Cartersville plant will make silicon ingots and wafers and solar cells, key ingredients in a solar panel. The company will use polysilicon made at an REC Silicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington. Hanwha last year bought 21% of REC, whose shares are listed in Norway, AP says. The company also signed a deal seeking silicon metal from a Ferroglobe refinery in Alloy, West Virginia.

Brian Deese, director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said such supply chain integration will help break China’s stranglehold on solar panel components and untie knots in overseas supply chains.

Deese said the IRA is an example of the industrial policy Biden wants to see, “to make sure that innovation is happening here, good job creation is happening here, and we are exporting products in the clean energy economy, not exporting jobs.”

Qcells now makes solar modules capable of generating 1.7 gigawatts of electricity each year at a plant in Dalton, about 75 miles (120 kilometres) northwest of Atlanta. The company already announced a $171-million second phase there last year to add 470 workers. It said Wednesday it will build a $181-million third phase, hiring an additional 500 workers to push employment there above 1,700.

Following the expansions, the company will make 8.4 gigawatts worth of modules, or about 10,000 solar panels a year, in the United States. That will include a capacity of 5.1 gigawatts in Dalton and 3.3 gigawatts in Cartersville.

“My goal remains to make Georgia the world leader in advanced energy production,” Ossoff said in a statement.

Warnock, Ossoff, and Biden administration officials say Biden’s strategy is working to enhance the nation’s manufacturing base as part of the transition to clean energy.

“I think it’s fair to say that this deal is President Biden’s vision come to life,” Biden clean energy adviser John Podesta told reporters.

The Biden administration says its policy has driven $300 billion in private investment by industries including semiconductors, clean energy, electric vehicles, and batteries, with nearly $25 billion of that coming to Georgia. That includes two $5 billion-plus electric vehicle plants, and a $4 billion-plus battery plant announced for Cartersville in December. Hyundai Motor Group is building one of the vehicle plants and is partnering with fellow South Korean firm SK Group to build the Cartersville battery plant.

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who relied on his economic management to win re-election last year, credited the state’s business climate. Georgia officials have particularly recruited electric vehicle and battery plants.

“Qcells has long been a pioneer in the solar industry, and it solidified Georgia’s place as a leader in renewable energy and sustainable technology when it cut the ribbon on the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere in 2019,” state Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said in a statement.

Biden’s national climate advisor, Ali Zaidi, said U.S. factories are on track to more than quadruple their output of solar panels by 2024, from seven gigawatts when Biden took office to 33.5 gigawatts. “That’s enough to enable about five million homes to switch to clean, solar energy each year,” Zaidi said.

The total incentive package from state and local governments wasn’t immediately clear. Qcells could qualify for more than $65 million in state income tax credits, at $5,250 per job over five years, as long as workers make at least $31,300 a year. Local officials have said Qcells workers in Dalton have starting wages of $17 an hour.

The Canadian Press republished this Associated Press story on January 11, 2022.



in Auto & Alternative Vehicles, Batteries / Storage, Cities & Communities, Clean Electricity Grid, Community Climate Finance, Ending Emissions, Energy Subsidies, Finance & Investment, Jobs & Training, Solar, Sub-National Governments, Supply Chains & Consumption, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

RL0919/wikimedia commons
Finance & Investment

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.1k
@tongbingxue/Twitter
Ending Emissions

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
257
Rachel Notley/Facebook
Jobs & Training

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
245

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.1k
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
491
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
257
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
245
James Vincent Wardhaugh/flickr

Canada Sidelines Ontario’s Ring of Fire, Approves Separate Mining Project

December 4, 2022
372
Argonne National Laboratory/flickr

$1.5B EV Battery Materials Plant Coming to Eastern Ontario

July 20, 2022
1.4k

Recent Posts

United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
1
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
185
Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
84
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
42

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
72
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
490
Next Post
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asiandevelopmentbank/22186030516

Off-Grid Renewables Expand to Fill Energy Access Gaps

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}