Georgia solar panel maker is returning to full production after a pause

Qcells, the maker of solar panels that operates a pair of factories in Northwest Georgia, said Friday it is resuming normal production after a monthslong pause triggered by trade law issues.

In early November, Qcells announced it was furloughing workers and reducing shifts, moves that affected about 1,000 workers or a little more than a quarter of its Georgia-based workforce. Hundreds of temp workers also were affected.

At the time, the company said it would bring employees back once it resumed full production.

“We are proud to be back to work manufacturing the American-made energy the country needs right now,” Qcells spokesperson Marta Stoepker said in a Friday news release. “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.”

The company said in November its supply chain problems were tied to enforcement of a 2021 federal law passed with bipartisan support to crack down on China’s use of forced labor. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act seeks to block goods made by Uyghurs and China’s other ethnic minorities in conditions the U.S. Department of Homeland Security compares to “modern slavery.”

The company said at the time it did not include any Chinese polysilicon in its solar panels. But last summer, a large shipment of Qcells polysilicon cells used to make solar panels at its Georgia factories was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Other Qcells shipments had been halted as well.

In an email on Friday, Stoepker said the shipment issues have been resolved.

Qcells opened its Dalton plant in 2019 and announced its Cartersville expansion in early 2023. The company has become a darling in Georgia’s clean energy sector.

U.S. solar manufacturers have long had to rely on other countries to source raw materials.

The company began producing solar panels at its Cartersville plant last year, but phase two of the factory will feature the country’s first fully integrated solar supply chain. On top of finished panels, the facility will be able to produce solar wafers from refined polysilicon, then turn those into photovoltaic cells, all under one roof.

“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,” Stoepker said in the release. “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.”

The clean energy sector has also had to contend with policies by the Trump administration that have prioritized fossil fuels and nuclear power while curtailing or altering incentives for greener forms of energy.