Hanwha Group has recently made an important announcement: it plans to establish a solar module factory in the United States in 2019. The factory, set to be located in Whitfield County, Georgia near the Tennessee border, is expected to have an annual production capacity of over 1.6 GW.
The local county is offering incentives valued at $30 million, including free land and tax cuts. The factory will produce passivated emitter – side contact (PERC) modules for rooftop and ground – based installations in the US. The solar cells will be sourced from Hanwha’s Korean manufacturers.
This strategic move is largely a response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported solar panels. By building the factory, Hanwha can avoid substantial import tariffs, approximately $200 million in 2019, $160 million in 2020, and $120 million in 2021. Once the factory is operational, Hanwha will have manufacturing capabilities across the US, South Korea, Malaysia, and China.
Hanwha is not the only company taking such action. Since the high tariffs were announced, major global solar manufacturers have been announcing US factory – building plans. JinkoSolar is opening a new factory in Jacksonville, SunPower purchased the SolarWorld Americas facility for local production, and Itek and Solartech Universal have announced expansion plans.
With the expansion of factories like those of SolarTech Universal, Mission Solar, and Hanwha, along with the expected capacity of the Tesla – Matsushita super factory, the US crystalline silicon module capacity is projected to reach at least 4.4 GW by the end of 2019. Additionally, First Solar’s planned large – scale thin – film solar module factory in the Western Hemisphere, with a capacity of 1.8 GW, could enable the US to meet over half of its projected solar module demand.
