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Another branch of Korean chemicals, materials and renewable energy giant Hanwha is building new factory in Georgia to support the upcoming expansion of Qcells, a sister firm planning a $2.5 billion investment aimed at bringing the whole process for making solar panels in the state.
Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia, Inc. will invest $147 million and hire 160 people at a new plant in Cartersville that will make encapsulant film inserted into solar modules to improve durability and performance.
The ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets go on either side of the solar cells to provide insulation, prevent moisture entry and ensure the distribution of light, according to Hanwha, which said back in 2015 that its films were granted “World-Class Korean Product” status by the country’s Ministry of Trade.
The plant will be the only one making this specific product in the United States, according to a news release from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.
“The products we make are an important piece of the clean energy supply chain puzzle, and we are excited to meet this need,” said Inhwan Kim, CEO of Hanwha Advanced Materials, in the release.
HG Park, president of Qcells North America, added that the company was “doubling down on building a complete, domestic solar supply chain” in the U.S.
When announcing its expansion in January, Qcells already operated the largest solar panel plant in the United States at its complex in Dalton.
Executives said the company would add a third building adjacent to the current operation there while building out a greenfield plant in Cartersville that it said would woo suppliers of cells, modules and other components for fully domestic production of panels. When the two expansions are complete, Qcells says it will have 8.4 megawatts of solar capacity in Georgia (3.3GW in the Bartow/Cartersville facility) and employ 4,000 people in the state.
The Hanwha Advanced Materials factory is expected to start production during the summer of 2024.
Qcells has said that the solar incentives outlined the Inflation Reduction Act, the $369 billion climate and health care bill passed last July, gave the company the confidence it needed to launch these new investments.
The law has been less helpful so far, however, to Korean manufacturers of batteries and vehicles that have said the incentives aimed at boosting U.S.-made EVs and batteries have put them at a disadvantage while they build large plants in Georgia.
Learn more about Hanwha Advanced Materials here.