Q Cells, owned by South Korean company Hanwha Solutions, is considering two North Texas locations for a $2 billion solar equipment manufacturing facility.
The company has its eyes on two parcels on either side of Dallas-Fort Worth for the nine gigawatt-per-year facility. Locations in South Carolina and Georgia are also being considered.
Q Cells has not publicly announced the plans, but the company filed Chapter 313 paperwork last month requesting tax incentives from Lancaster ISD and Dallas ISD for the Dallas County location and Fort Worth ISD for the Tarrant County site.
The documents identified Q Cells and described the plan by its economic development code name, Project Redeemer.
In Texas, Chapter 313 incentives are used to motivate companies to move or build locations here, providing a 10-year limitation on the appraised value for a portion of school property taxes. The company, in exchange, agrees to invest and create jobs in a given school district.
All three school boards have approved the tax abatements.
According to the filings, the facility would employ a peak of 4,000 workers during the second year of construction and cost at least $1.829 billion, with 229 employees staying on after completion of the site.
The job creation total could go much higher. Trade publication PV Magazine reported that the company expects there to be “several thousand permanent jobs at the site.”
Texas’ school tax break law, combined with federal funds for renewable energy, makes the state particularly appealing for solar and wind projects. Texas has become a hub of solar growth, and is already the country’s leader in wind power generation. Adding a global industry titan like Q Cells would only further bulk up Texas’ growing renewable sector.
The Q Cells facility aims to be almost fully integrated, meaning raw materials would be shipped there and turned into fully operational solar panels.
The Lancaster location would sit on the eastern edge of Lancaster ISD, south of Pleasant Run Road and north of the Lancaster Airport. A small portion would cross into Dallas ISD to the east.
The Fort Worth location is along Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway, southwest of Westland. That site was previously considered for electric truck company Rivian’s manufacturing plant, which ultimately went to a site in Georgia.
Q Cells will decide on the location by the end of the year, to begin construction in 2023 and complete the project in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Fort Worth Report, which attributed the information to an email from Hanwha’s strategic planning specialist Yongwoo Cho.
Q Cells has a 1.7 gigawatt-per-year module assembly facility in Dalton, Ga., and Hanwha Solutions controls the largest solar polysilicon manufacturing on the continent. The company is a major player in the solar industry, holding the largest market share in commercial solar in the United States. Forbes estimates Hanwha’s annual revenue at $46.1 billion.
