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May 26—Hanwha Qcells on Thursday announced a $171 million investment near its solar module manufacturing plant in the Carbondale Business Park just south of Dalton. The expansion is expected to create 470 jobs.
With more than 750 workers employed at the existing factory, total employment by Qcells at the Carbondale Business Park will exceed 1,000 when the expansion is complete. The company plans to break ground on the facility this fall and to begin operations in the first half of 2023.
The new facility will produce 1.4 gigawatts of solar modules each year. It will bring Qcells' total capacity in the U.S. to 3.1 gigawatts, which the company said is equivalent to one-third of America's solar module manufacturing capacity. The existing facility, which opened in 2019, produces 12,000 panels a day.
"Our additional investment in Dalton will help Qcells better serve the needs of U.S. customers with increased local manufacturing capacity," said Qcells CEO Justin Lee. "Georgia has become the clean energy manufacturing heart of America, and we are proud to contribute to the state's advanced manufacturing economy."
Qcells is now the sixth-largest employer in Whitfield County. The expansion would move it into fifth place.
Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen praised the announcement, saying it shows the county's new economic development strategy is working.
"We said that we weren't going to give away land anymore," he said. "We were looking for projects that would diversify our economy and that would create jobs that pay at or above the median wage."
Jensen said Qcells paid approximately $1.7 million for an additional 30 acres in the Carbondale Business Park next to its existing plant, which he described as at or slightly above the fair market value.
"I plan to ask the other commissioners to return that money to the taxpayers because it is their money that has developed the business park," he said.
Carl Campbell, executive director of the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority, said the new jobs "will start in the range of about $17 per hour and go up from there."
"Market pressures have changed labor rates significantly in the recent past, so they may have to adjust when these jobs come online sometime next year," Campbell said.
Qcells is one of the biggest solar module manufacturers in the world, claiming an estimated total annual production capacity of 12.4 gigawatts as of 2021. Its parent company Hanwha Group is among the largest business conglomerates in South Korea.