The economy continues to hit Americans hard. Qcells, the US solar manufacturing subsidiary of the South Korean Hanwha Group, announced the temporary suspension of 1,000 employees at its Georgia factories. The main reason is that shipments of essential components from abroad are being routinely held up by US customs officials.
The company stated that delays have limited its ability to maintain production lines at full capacity
The news is clear: solar energy company Qcells will temporarily reduce the pay and working hours of approximately one-third of its employees in this area of northwest Georgia. The company stated that delays have limited its ability to maintain production lines at full capacity. Qcells has committed to investing $2.5 billion to build a complete solar panel supply chain in the United States to compete with China. The reduced hours are expected to affect about 1,000 employees at Qcells plants in Dalton and Cartersville, where U.S. customs authorities have detained imported components used in the manufacture of solar panels.
“It’s creating a sort of vacuum effect at the beginning, so people can’t get the supplies they need”
Regarding this, Carl Gabrini, interim assistant dean of the Wright School of Business at Dalton State College, said, “It’s creating a sort of vacuum effect at the beginning, so people can’t get the supplies they need.” Qcells manufactures solar cells in Malaysia and South Korea, which are then imported for assembly into panels. In addition to temporary layoffs, the company confirmed plans to lay off approximately 300 employees.
In 2023, Qcells, a leading solar module manufacturer, announced a $2.5 billion investment to expand its operations in Georgia
This announcement comes months after the company reported that some of its solar cell shipments had been detained at U.S. ports under a 2021 law banning imports from China’s Xinjiang region due to concerns about forced labor. Later, in 2023, Qcells, a leading solar module manufacturer, announced a $2.5 billion investment to expand its operations in Georgia. “Qcells expects to resume full production in the coming weeks and months. Our commitment to building the entire solar supply chain in the United States remains strong,” Qcells spokeswoman Marta Stoepker said in a statement.
Back in 2023, following Qcells’ investment, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Dalton plant and called it “the largest community solar investment in our nation’s history.” Now, Qcells has implemented temporary reduced hours and furloughs for approximately half of its manufacturing employees at its Cartersville and Dalton, Georgia, plants. Jesse Lee, senior advisor to the clean energy organization Climate Power, stated that the decision represents a setback for the community and the clean energy sector as a whole. Meanwhile, Marta Stoepker has also said, “We will soon be back up and running with our full team in Georgia, delivering American-made energy to communities across the country.”
“It’s a real shame they’ve had their support withdrawn in this way”
“They were laying the groundwork for the United States to become competitive in the clean energy and solar power sector,” Lee stated. Qcells is currently finalizing a $2.3 billion plant in Cartersville to manufacture ingots, wafers, and solar cells—the building blocks of finished solar modules. However, Lee made it clear that “it’s a real shame they’ve had their support withdrawn in this way.”
Finally, as mentioned in previous paragraphs, a company spokesperson confirmed that while most of the delayed shipments are now clearing customs, the significant delays necessitated reducing production capacity and implementing workforce actions to improve operational efficiency. Stoepker added that shipments that had been held are now being released by customs authorities, but the delays have forced the company to reduce production. Regarding the temporary layoffs, affected workers will retain all benefits, and the company expects to resume full production and bring back the suspended staff “in the coming weeks and months.”