How Qcells’ Georgia factory is surviving US solar policy whiplash

A Qcells solar panel factory in Cartersville, Georgia, has expanded so it can now handle the whole manufacturing process, from raw material to finished panel, instead of just assembling parts. It's part of a broader push to build more solar panels in the U.S. rather than relying on China, which has long dominated the market with cheaper panels.

Federal policy on this has swung back and forth. The Biden administration offered tax credit bonuses for solar projects using U.S.-made panels, which Qcells says helped convince it to build the Georgia plant. The Trump administration has taken a different approach: last year's tax and spending law eliminated most solar tax credits but kept a few, and made panels from certain countries, including China, ineligible for them. Starting in December, new tariffs and minimum prices on imported polysilicon (the raw material used to make solar cells) will also apply, which could make Chinese imports pricier and easier for U.S. manufacturers to compete against.

For homeowners considering solar, the near-term picture is mixed. The rollback of federal clean energy tax credits removed a major incentive for new solar projects generally, and some planned projects have already been dropped. At the same time, solar remains one of the cheapest ways to add electricity to the grid, and panels are widely available while other equipment, like gas turbines, faces long delays. Experts say solar development will keep growing, but costs, availability, and where panels are made are still being sorted out.