For the first month on record, solar supplied more of the United States’ electricity than coal did. Solar generated 12.8% of US power in May 2026, edging past coal’s 12.2% share, according to Ember, a global energy think tank that draws on Energy Information Administration data. The crossover came as solar generation hit an all-time monthly high.
On June 9, 2026, the day before Ember published its data, Qcells began making solar cells at its Cartersville, Georgia factory. The company describes the cell line going live as the start of what will be the largest solar cell factory in US history. The Cartersville opening landed the same week solar overtook coal in the May generation mix, and months after the Trump administration moved to dismantle tax credits for wind and solar projects. Qcells’s growth in Georgia is anchored to a different federal credit, Section 45X, that the order does not directly target.
Solar Passes Coal in the May Mix
The May figures came from Ember’s dataset of US hourly generation. Solar reached 12.8% of national electricity while coal slipped to 12.2%, its fourth-lowest monthly share on record. Solar also overtook coal to become the third-largest US electricity source, behind natural gas and nuclear.
Solar generation reached 45.5 terawatt-hours in May, up 17% from May 2025 and a new monthly high. Coal output ticked up to 43.4 terawatt-hours but still trailed the prior May by 11%. Over the past five years, coal’s share of the US mix has roughly halved, dropping from 19.7% in May 2021 to 12.2% in May 2026.
“For years solar power has risen in the US electricity mix,” said Nicolas Fulghum, senior energy and data analyst at Ember. “At the same time, coal power has lost its status, first as the largest source in the US mix, and then gradually over the years has fallen even further.” Fulghum said he expected more monthly crossover months before solar overtakes coal on an annual basis.
The shift has not been driven by one unusually sunny month. Coal’s share fell to its fourth-lowest level on record, suggesting the trend line is structural rather than seasonal.
- 12.8% — US solar share, May 2026
- 12.2% — US coal share, May 2026 (fourth-lowest monthly)
- 45.5 TWh — US solar generation in May 2026, a record
- 91% — share of new US generating capacity in Q1 2026 from solar plus storage
- 6 million — cumulative US solar installations, per SEIA
Cartersville Begins Cell Production
Qcells announced on June 9, 2026 that it had started commercial production of silicon solar cells at Cartersville. The Cartersville factory has been building finished modules at full capacity since earlier in the year, turning out 16,700 panels a day. Adding cells is the step that lets Qcells call Cartersville the only vertically integrated solar manufacturing plant in the United States. The cell line going live is the second leg of a project Qcells first announced in January 2023, originally framed as a $2.5 billion investment.
By Q3 2026, the company expects Cartersville to reach its full buildout of 3.3 gigawatts each of ingots, wafers and cells, plus 3.5 gigawatts of finished modules per year. At that point, the company says, Cartersville will be the largest operating solar cell factory in US history, a status it confirmed at the time of the cell launch.
The plant is also the first such operation built in the United States in more than a decade and will house the largest ingot and wafer plant ever constructed in the country.
| Site | Cartersville, Georgia | Dalton, Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| Production stages | Ingot, wafer, cell and module under one roof | Module assembly only |
| Annual module capacity | 3.5 GW at full production in Q3 2026 | 5.1 GW after 2023 expansion |
| Distinction | Largest solar cell factory in US history at full buildout | Largest module plant in the Western Hemisphere |
A Vertical Solar Line Under One Roof
Qcells says it is the only US manufacturer that can claim the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit at each stage of production, from ingot to finished panel.
Producing the first solar cells at Cartersville is a milestone for Qcells and for American manufacturing. As our ingot, wafer, and cell lines reach full capacity, we’ll be making the major components of a solar panel right here in Georgia. A dependable domestic supply chain doesn’t just create thousands of good-paying jobs, it gives our customers greater certainty on price, supply, and tariffs, and a product they can trust from start to finish.
Andy Park, Global CEO of Qcells, made the remarks in the company’s June 9 announcement. Qcells, once a German solar-cell maker, now operates as a subsidiary of Korean industrial conglomerate Hanwha Group, with its global executive headquarters in Seoul and its technology and innovation headquarters in Thalheim, Germany.
Together with the Cartersville factory’s sister site in Dalton, about 30 miles north, Qcells says its Georgia operations will reach 8.6 gigawatts of total module capacity per year by the end of Q3 2026, roughly 47,000 panels a day, enough to power about 1.3 million US homes for a year. The two campuses are expected to employ nearly 4,000 people combined, including 3,800 direct jobs across Bartow and Whitfield counties.
Dalton opened in 2019, initially manufacturing 1.7 gigawatts with 750 employees, and tripled its module capacity to 5.1 gigawatts in late 2023 in the first factory expansion under the Inflation Reduction Act. Qcells has invested more than $3 billion across the full solar supply chain on US soil, according to Scott Moskowitz, vice president of market strategy and industrial affairs at Qcells. The Cartersville site also houses a recycling operation with capacity for about 250 megawatts of panels a year, roughly 500,000 panels annually.
The Tax Credit Architecture Behind the Bet
Section 45X is a federal production tax credit, paid per unit of qualifying clean energy component a US manufacturer sells. The credit applies at each stage of the solar value chain: ingots, wafers, cells and modules. Because Qcells is the only US manufacturer producing all four stages domestically, the company can claim Section 45X at every step. Qcells positions the federal loan program in Georgia and the related Section 45X expansion as the financial spine of the Cartersville project; a 2025 federal loan guarantee for the company’s Georgia solar hub is detailed in this analysis of the $1.45 billion loan backing Qcells’s expansion.
Modules produced at Cartersville also help project developers qualify for a separate benefit, the 10% Domestic Content Bonus under the Investment Tax Credit. To claim that bonus, developers must source a sufficient share of their components domestically, and Cartersville’s modules satisfy that test from ingot to panel. The combination of Section 45X on the manufacturing side and the Domestic Content Bonus on the project side gives vertically integrated manufacturers a structural advantage that imports cannot match.
Section 45X itself was created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and is administered by the Treasury. The credit is distinct from the clean electricity production and investment tax credits under Sections 45Y and 48E that have been at the center of the administration’s policy pushback, a distinction the Georgia solar industry has flagged in coverage of how the Senate tax bill could reshape the state’s clean energy buildout.
The Federal Push in the Other Direction
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on July 7, 2025 titled “Ending Market Distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign-Controlled Energy Sources.” The order reads: “For too long, the Federal Government has forced American taxpayers to subsidize expensive and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar.” It also contends that “reliance on so-called ‘green’ subsidies threatens national security by making the United States dependent on supply chains controlled by foreign adversaries.” The order directs the Treasury to enforce the termination of Sections 45Y and 48E within 45 days of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s enactment.
Separately, the administration has steered more than $700 million in federal funding toward modernizing coal-fired plants and expanding coal exports, and cancelled a $7 billion grant program intended to bring solar to lower- and middle-income communities. According to Canary Media, the Trump administration “phased out the credit for installing solar projects after July 4, but projects can still claim the credits for four years under ‘safe harbor’ rules.” Qcells’s reliance on Section 45X puts its cell line on a different footing than the credits the order targets.
The US Cell Industry in 2026
When Cartersville reaches its full 3.3 gigawatts of cell capacity in Q3 2026, it will more than double current US solar cell output. Three smaller cell makers were operating in the country before Cartersville ramped up: Suniva, with 1 gigawatt at its Georgia plant, plus ES Foundry and Silfab, each with 1 gigawatt in South Carolina. Qcells’s Cartersville line by itself will exceed the combined output of all three. Other projects are racing to catch up. Japan-headquartered Toyo said it would spend $357 million to add 1.5 gigawatts of cell production at its Houston module-assembly plant, and ES Foundry is expanding to 3 gigawatts by year’s end.
First Solar, the largest US solar manufacturer by nameplate capacity, runs a different technology. Its factories produce up to 14 gigawatts of cadmium-telluride thin-film panels, which generate electricity without using silicon-based cells. The two technologies address the same end market but rely on different supply chains and credit structures.
The Solar Energy Industries Association reports that US solar module manufacturing has grown from 8 gigawatts before the federal manufacturing tax credits to 69.9 gigawatts as of June 2026, and that about 30 gigawatts of additional manufacturing is now under construction across the country. Qcells’s Georgia footprint has grown alongside that broader buildout, on a schedule stretching back to its first Dalton modules in 2019.
- 2019: Qcells opens its first Georgia factory in Dalton, hiring 750 people to manufacture 1.7 GW of solar modules.
- Late 2023: Dalton expands, tripling its module capacity to 5.1 GW in the first solar factory expansion after IRA passage.
- June 9, 2026: Qcells begins commercial solar cell production at Cartersville, adding cells to the existing module line.
- Q3 2026 (planned): Cartersville reaches full production, with 3.3 GW each of ingots, wafers and cells, plus 3.5 GW of modules per year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Qcells now manufacture at Cartersville?
Qcells produces all four major components of a silicon solar panel at its Cartersville factory: silicon ingots, wafers, solar cells and finished modules. The cell line started commercial production on June 9, 2026. Module assembly has been running at full capacity since earlier in the year at 16,700 panels per day.
How large is the Cartersville factory?
At full production in Q3 2026, Cartersville is slated to make 3.3 gigawatts each of ingots, wafers and cells per year, plus 3.5 gigawatts of modules. Qcells says that buildout will make it the largest operating solar cell factory in US history, and the largest ingot and wafer plant ever constructed in the country.
How does Section 45X help Qcells?
Section 45X is a federal production tax credit paid per unit of qualifying clean energy components manufactured in the United States. Because Qcells is the only US manufacturer making ingots, wafers, cells and modules under one roof, the company can claim the credit at each stage of production.
Does the Trump executive order affect Qcells?
The July 7, 2025 executive order targets Sections 45Y and 48E, the clean electricity production and investment tax credits for wind and solar projects. Section 45X, the manufacturing production credit Qcells relies on, is a separate provision. According to Canary Media, the installation credit was phased out for projects that did not begin construction before July 4, with a four-year safe harbor.
What is the outlook for US solar manufacturing in 2026?
The Solar Energy Industries Association reported US module manufacturing capacity of 69.9 gigawatts as of June 2026, up from 8 gigawatts before the Inflation Reduction Act, with about 30 gigawatts of additional capacity under construction. Solar supplied 12.8% of US electricity in May 2026, exceeding coal for the first month on record, Ember said.
