The US DoE Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced the closing of a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Hanwha Qcells. Aiming to reestablish critical parts of the US solar supply chain, the loan guarantee will support Qcell’s solar manufacturing facility, which will produce ingots, wafers, cells, and finished solar modules.
Qcell’s Georgia facility will reportedly be the largest ingot and wafer plant built in the United States. It will also be the first fully integrated silicon-based solar manufacturing facility constructed in the country in over a decade.
The DoE initially announced a conditional commitment to support the project in August, which required Qcells to satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions for the loan to become finalized.
The loan guarantee is offered through LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which includes financing opportunities for innovative energy and supply chain projects and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure.
The project will produce components that are expected to benefit from the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit. Additionally, the solar panels manufactured at the plant will help developers qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) domestic content 10% tax credit bonus.
