Qcells announced in a press release today that the company has resumed solar panel assembly at its facility in Cartersville, Georgia, following customs clearance delays. The factory plans to advance from solar panel assembly and integrate ingot, wafer and cell production this year at an annual capacity of 3.3 GW, according to a company spokesperson.
Qcells Dalton, Georgia, manufacturing facility.
“We are proud to be back to work manufacturing the American-made energy the country needs right now,” said Marta Stoepker, head of communications at Qcells. “Like any company, hurdles have and will occur, which requires us to adapt and be nimble, but our overall goal remains the same — to build a complete American solar supply chain. To achieve this, we are excited to welcome hundreds of new, talented people into our workforce as we finalize our one-of-a-kind factory in Cartersville, Georgia. By the end of 2026, we’ll have nearly 4,000 people manufacturing panels and components that America hasn’t made in a very long time.”
In November, Qcells furloughed 1,000 employees from its two Georgia plants — about one-third of the company’s workforce – and laid off 300 people because U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was increasingly detaining its imported solar cells and other module components. Stoepker said Qcells was able to bring back every furloughed employee.
Products were being stopped at the border under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which prevented Chinese goods manufactured using forced labor from entering the United States. Qcells is headquartered in South Korea, and has claimed it uses no Chinese components in its solar modules, but CBP started detaining Qcell products last summer.
The Cartersville plant started operating in April 2025, joining Qcells’ 5.1-GW factory in Dalton, which opened in 2019. State Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) is hosting a press conference highlighting Qcells investments in Georgia on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. (EDT) at the State Capitol.
