First Solar to Supply 585,000 Thin-Film Modules for 50 Megawatt Indian Project

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--First Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) will supply more than 585,000, advanced, thin-film solar modules to two Indian solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Rajasthan, India.

An agreement was signed between First Solar, Kiran Energy Solar Power (Mumbai, India) and Mahindra Solar One, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra (Mumbai, India), for the supply of the modules to the two adjacent projects, which will have a total installed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW). The projects are in the second batch utility-scale solar projects under the umbrella of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which has a target of 20,000 MW of new solar power capacity installed in India by 2022.

Construction is scheduled to start this year and project completion is targeted in the first quarter of 2013. Together, the side-by-side projects are expected to produce an average of more than 85,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean energy annually. This is equivalent to the annual electrical power requirements of 97,000 average Indian households and will mitigate the equivalent of 80,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, based on the national emissions averages.

Sujoy Ghosh, First Solar's country head, said that the company was pleased that their technology was selected as the best solution for the high ambient temperatures, and can diffuse sunlight at the site.

Kiran Energy and joint venture partners Mahindra Solar One will own the largest solar power plant aggregation in a single location in India, said Pramoda Karkal, COO of Kiran, adding that First Solar's world-class PV technology will enable the construction of a high-quality solar plant that could rank among the best in the country in terms of quality, uptime and output.

First Solar has cumulatively produced approximately 80 million of its advanced, thin-film solar modules, which represent a peak generating capacity of more than 6,000 MW, which is enough to power more than 3.3 million homes and mitigate about 4 million tons of CO2 annually.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.