In a massive new deal, Solar giant Qcells will supply Microsoft with 12 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels over eight years.

Qcells’ largest agreement ever will supply Microsoft with enough solar panels to power the equivalent of more than 1.8 million homes annually, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction services. The two companies originally agreed to a 2.5 GW contract in January 2023.

Bobby Hollis, vice president of energy at Microsoft, said, “Our expanded agreement with Qcells is designed to drive large-scale domestic production of solar modules essential to advancing a resilient US supply chain and clean energy economy.”

Microsoft has set a goal of achieving 100% clean electricity by 2025, and establishing a secure domestic supply chain will streamline that goal.

In January 2023, the Seoul-headquartered Qcells announced it would invest more than $2.5 billion to build a solar supply chain in Georgia – the largest-ever investment in clean energy manufacturing in the US to date, following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. That includes expanding its existing Dalton solar factory, which was completed in October, and building a fully integrated solar supply chain factory in Cartersville that will manufacture solar ingots, wafers, cells, and finished panels.

Qcells expects to bring its total solar panel production capacity in Georgia to 8.4 GW this year. It’s the only company in the US to establish a fully integrated, silicon-based solar supply chain from raw material to finished panel.

Read more: The world’s largest steel mill will get a second life as a wind turbine factory

Photo: Qcells

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