Panel Manufacturer First Solar Reports Strong Earnings on U.S. Solar Buildout

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Solar panel manufacturer First Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) is reaping the rewards of a strong U.S. solar sector, reporting net income of $236.6 million for the first three months of this year, compared with $42.5 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. While the company's products continue to be used in hundreds of solar power projects throughout the U.S., legislation such as 2022's Inflation Reduction Act has prompted First Solar to build out its U.S.-based manufacturing footprint. In a conference call earlier this week, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Widmar discussed the strength of the U.S. solar sector while warning about complacency in regard to imports of solar panels to the U.S.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 provides tax incentives to both the manufacturers and consumers of U.S.-made solar power equipment. After its passage, First Solar launched a series of projects throughout the U.S., that are just now beginning operations or will do so.

Among the company's active projects is construction of a grassroot manufacturing facility in Trinity, Alabama, about 30 miles southwest of Huntsville. In the conference call, Widmar said structural construction, which kicked off last summer, is complete and equipment is now being installed at the plant in preparation for the expected start of commercial shipments in the second half of this year. The 2.4 million-square-foot facility will produce up to 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of panels per year at full production. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can click here to learn more about the project.

First Solar is at work on another manufacturing plant in New Iberia, Louisiana, that also will produce 3.5 GW of the company's Series 7 thin-film modules annually. Widmar said construction of the plant, occurring under the general contracting services of the Rudolph Libbe Group (Toledo, Ohio), is on track, with commercial operations expected to begin in late 2025. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

First Solar also is underway with a series of expansion projects at plants in Ohio. At its plant in Perrysburg, the company is constructing a 1.5 million-square-foot building addition that will house both manufacturing and research and development (R&D) space, in addition to installing a modular cleanroom. In the conference call, Widmar said, "The expansion of our Perrysburg, Ohio, manufacturing footprint is expected to be completed, and commercial shipments are expected to begin before the end of the second quarter." At its plant in Walbridge, Ohio, First Solar is adding a 150,000-square-foot building addition that will facilitate an increase in the plant's production capacity of 0.9 gigawatts per year. The project is expected to wrap up by the end of this year. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the reports on the Perrysburg and Walbridge projects.

Walder used the company's increasing U.S. production capacity to point out the availability of its solar products to the domestic market: "We expect to exit 2024 with over 21 gigawatts and 2026 with over 25 gigawatts of global nameplate capacity," he said, "all of which is available to serve the U.S. market."

Nevertheless, the CEO did have words to say on developers that lament a lack of available panels on the U.S. market, while also warning of slippery slope of increasing foreign imports: "Time and again, we have heard about the detrimental effects of enforcing trade laws on deployment. And yet time and again, we see annual records set for solar deployment in this country. In our view, the real risk for U.S. solar deployment comes from the long-term detrimental effects of allowing China's unfair trade practice to continue, which could result in a decimated domestic solar manufacturing base, ceding all pricing power and a complete control of supply chain distribution to a highly adversarial nation. This represents a strategic risk to developers of solar assets, a clean energy transition and the U.S. energy independence economic prosperity. U.S. energy independence isn't just about producing electricity at home. It's about having the supply chain and R&D for future advancements at our nation's disposal as well."

And First Solar's equipment is being used in plenty of domestic projects, accounting for billions of dollars' worth of active and potential spending in the U.S. Among the largest of these, weighing in at an estimated total investment value of more than $1.2 billion, is Swift Current Energy's (Boston, Massachusetts) Black Diamond solar project in central Illinois, about 30 miles from Springfield. McCarthy Building Companies Incorporated (Saint Louis, Missouri) launched construction of the plant in late 2022 and is expected to complete the project by the end of this year, when the facility will begin providing approximately 800 megawatts (MW) of power from First Solar's panels. Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for more details on the project.

Other projects employing First Solar panels are smaller in scale but still sizeable undertakings. In Hill County, Texas, for example, Core Solar LLC (Austin, Texas), a part of TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) since April 2022, last year began work on a solar farm that will employ nearly 964,000 of First Solar's Series 6 modules to provide 400 MW of emissions-free power generation. The plant is expected to begin operating this summer. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related 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).