First Solar, a US-based manufacturer of solar modules, has announced its plans for an investment of $1.1 billion. The investment intends to build a fifth manufacturing facility in the US. The company made the move in an effort to increase American production of photovoltaic solar modules. The new manufacturing facility will add 3.5 GW of capacity to the company’s nameplate, and it will be vertically linked.
The expansion is estimated to increase the global capacity to 25 GW by 2026. The location is not finalised yet; however, the company expects the facility to be fully operational by the first six months of 2026. The company expects that once the work commences, series 7 modules will comprise more than two-third capacity of the annual domestic nameplate. Currently, steel and glass made in the US are used at the Ohio facility of the company to produce Series 7 modules.
The company has committed to investing over $2.8 billion in projects and adding 7.9 GW of manufacturing capacity in the US over the past year. This includes the projects that were announced before, with investments totaling $1.3 billion in a 3.5 GW manufacturing plant in Alabama and a 0.9 GW expansion of its current factory in Ohio, both of which are anticipated to be finished by the end of 2024.
Recently, in July 2023, Revkor Energy Holdings Inc., a US-based company, and H2 Gemini Technology Consulting GmbH, a German supplier of industrial equipment, announced plans to construct a solar cell and module plant in Salt Lake City, Utah, the US. The collaboration intends to promote perovskite, graphene, plastic recycling, and innovative tire vulcanisation techniques using its production and research facility in Utah.
In May 2023, Meyer Burger Technology AG and Ingka Investments signed an offtake agreement for a period of four years. The agreement with Ingka Investments included the supply of premium solar modules produced in Goodyear, which are to be delivered between 2025 and 2029.
REGlobal’s Views: First Solar has been ramping up its production facilities across the US. The push for domestically-sourced solar power components in the face of increasing energy security concerns has led local manufacturers to plan extensive capacity expansion.
