Hanwha Q Cells Co., Ltd., and "Hanwha Q Cells & Advanced Materials Corp.", commonly known as Q Cells or Hanwha Q Cells, are manufacturers of photovoltaic solar cells. They are headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Its technology and innovation center is located in Thalheim, Germany. Both companies are subsidiaries of Hanwha Chemical, an affiliate of the Hanwha Group. The companies operate under brand Q Cells. CEO of the company is Hee Cheul Kim.
History
Roots of Hanwha Q Cells lay in Q-Cells AG and Solarfun. Q-Cells AG was established in 1999 in Germany, by Anton Milner, Reiner Lemoine, Holger Feist, and Paul Grunow. In July 2001, the first production line for polycrystalline solar cells went into operation in Thalheim, Germany. The first working solar cell was manufactured on 23 July 2001. On 5 October 2005, Q-Cells AG was listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In June 2009, the company acquired Solibro GmbH, a joint venture established in 2006 together with Solibro AB. Solibro manufactured CIGS thin-film solar cells based on copper-indium-gallium-diselenide. These modules were marketed until the sale of Solibro to Hanergy in 2012. In 2005, Q-Cells established the CdTe PV manufacturer Calyxo GmbH. In November 2007, Q-Cells agreed a deal with Solar Fields LLC, which intellectual property and assets were merged into Calyxo's newly established subsidiary Calyxo USA Inc. In 2011, Solar Fields LLC took over Calyxo GmbH. In 2008, Q-Cells acquired 17.9% stake in Renewable Energy Corporation. This stake was sold in 2009. At the same year, Q-Cells' subsidiary Sontor merged with a thin-film company Solarfilm. In 2011, Q Cells SE posted significant losses and a restructuring was announced. On 3 April 2012, the company filed for insolvency. In August 2012, the Hanwha Group agreed to acquire Q-Cells. Following the liquidation process, the insolvent Q-Cells SE was renamed Global PVQ SE, and its assets were sold to Hanwha. Hanwha Q Cells GmbH was officially launched on 24 October 2012. In December 2014, the Hanwha Group announced a merger of its solar subsidiaries, Hanwha SolarOne and Hanwha Q Cells. The merger was legally completed in February 2015. The merged company was listed on the NASDAQ. SolarOne was established in 2004 in China as Solarfun Power Holdings by Linyang Electronics. In 2006, Solarfun was listed at NASDAQ. In 2008, Solarfun acquired a manufacturer of silicon ingots Jiangsu Yungguang Solar. In 2010, 49% of company shares were acquired by Hanwha Chemical. Consequently, Solarfun was renamed Hanwha SolarOne. Production in Germany was ceased in 2015 when due to high costs production was relocated to Malaysia.At the same year, a manufacturing facility was opened in South Korea. In 2017, in cooperation with Kalyon Enerji manufacturing was started in Turkey and in 2019 in the United States. In 2018, the wafer production was closed in China while a new wafer production facility was opened in 2019 in Malaysia.The cooperation in Turkey was ended in 2019. In 2018, Hanwha continued to simplify its structure of solar units. Hanwha Q Cells Korea was merged with Hanwha Advanced Materials to form Hanwha Q Cells & Advanced Materials Corp. In 2019, Hanwha Q Cells Co., Ltd. merged with Hanwha Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. and was delisted from NASDAQ.
Operations
Q Cells develops and produces mono- and polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and solar panels. It produces and installs PV systems for commercial, industrial, and residential applications and provides EPC services for large scale solar power plants. The company has production facilities in South Korea, Malaysia, China, and the United States. In Thalheim, Germany, the company has its worldwide center for technology, innovation and quality.In Korea, it operates a manufacturing facility in solar cell facility in Jincheon. In the United States, it has a 1,700 MW panel plant in Dalton, Georgia. In Malaysia, it owns a cell and module factory, and together with 1366 Technologies a wafer manufacturing facility in Cyberjaya, Selangor.
