First Solar Opens Solar Panel Manufacturing Facility

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--First Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) recently opened its $1.1 billion solar panel-manufacturing plant in Trinity, Alabama, and the company plans to further add to its capacity with a major manufacturing plant underway in Louisiana and projects in Ohio. Industrial Info is tracking six projects from First Solar in the U.S. worth $1.7 billion.

The Trinity plant gives First Solar an additional 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of nameplate solar panel manufacturing capacity. In a related press release, the company said the plant, along with three operational plants in Ohio, brings the company's capacity in the U.S. to almost 11 GW once fully operational. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Plant Database can click here for detailed profiles on the plants.

The Alabama plant "is the first of two fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing facilities that solidify the role of the Gulf Coast states in enabling America's all-of-the-above energy strategy," said Mark Widmar, chief executive officer of First Solar, in the September 26 press release.

That other facility is a $1.1 billion plant under construction in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, which also has a nameplate solar panel manufacturing capacity of 3.5 GW. First Solar expects the plant to be commissioned in the second half of 2025, when it will exclusively manufacture the company's utility-scale Series 7 photovoltaic (PV) panels; the panels have stronger generation and longer lifetimes than previous models. Subscribers to the GMI Project Database can click here to read a detailed project report.

First Solar said it expects to have more than 14 GW of annual nameplate capacity in the U.S. by the end of 2026.

Industrial Info is tracking projects aimed at meeting that goal, including two in Ohio that are expected to wrap up by the end of the year: construction of another grassroot manufacturing plant, and an expansion project. A $200 million manufacturing and research and development facility in Perrysburg (PGT4) will feature a 1.6-million-square-foot building complex, and a $100 million expansion of its PGT2 plant in Walbridge will give First Solar an additional 0.9 GW of manufacturing capacity. Subscribers can read more information on the grassroot and expansion projects.

First Solar also is at work repurposing a former Peloton factory in Ohio into a new distribution center, which would boost regional distribution operations. Click here to read more information on the project, which is expected to wrap up in early 2025.

According to the company's second-quarter earnings presentation, released July 30, capital expenditures for full-year 2024 are projected to be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion.

Industrial Info is tracking the construction of other high-dollar solar panel-manufacturing plants; see August 8, 2024, article - U.S. Solar Module Plant Renovations, Expansions Going Strong.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of active and planned projects from First Solar.

Subscribers to the GMI database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).