Newcomer Rivulet Energy has started producing solar panels out of a factory in Cartersville, Georgia, just six miles and a 10-minute drive from Qcells’s inclusive silicon solar panel manufacturing site. While Qcells should eventually be making wafers, cells and panels at a 3.3-GW factory, Rivulet is currently only making solar panels at its 450-MW capacity site down the road.
Solar Power World talked with Ismail Yucel, vice general manager of Rivulet Energy, and learned that the company has been in production since September 2025.
Rivulet leased a 120,000-ft2 warehouse in Cartersville in late spring 2025 and began outfitting it with equipment, Yucel said, from “another U.S. manufacturer. They shut down, and we purchased from them.” Rivulet was able to begin test runs of panels in September.
“In the last few months [of the year], we were doing production, which was a really busy 2025 for us,” Yucel said, noting that Rivulet is currently producing 435-W n-type solar panels for the residential market on behalf of OEMs.
Rivulet will eventually have its own brand, focusing more on the small commercial and residential markets.
“We are aware that our brand is not very popular [right now] for the utility market and they require bankability. We know that we’re not ready yet for that,” Yucel said. “But we have an experienced operations and management team, and one of our goals for 2026 is to increase brand awareness in the market.”
Yucel, whose employment background includes sales work with HT-SAAE, said Rivulet Energy is a U.S. company with Turkish experience. Rivulet is importing n-type cells from Türkiye, and is currently installing a second manufacturing line in the Cartersville plant. This more-advanced line has a capacity of 750 MW, which would bring Rivulet Energy’s total production capacity to 1.2 GW by mid-year.
Yucel said Rivulet has 60 production employees and 20 office workers. When the second line begins operation, Rivulet should expand to 150 total employees in Georgia. The company is actively advertising engineering job openings on LinkedIn.
Rivulet has received compliance certification from CSA Group for its solar panels under UL 61730.
As for why it set up in Qcells’s backyard? Yucel said Rivulet was exploring many sites in different states, but Cartersville, Georgia, and its economic development teams have been very accommodating. Rivulet also enjoys that it’s near the Savannah port, especially as most of the company’s vendors are located in Türkiye.
“I knew that Qcells was close by, but that’s good. It’s great for the community and for the workforce. There are so many talented people here for both companies,” Yucel said.
