Eyes China for Solar Panel Production
Author: Elysia Niemi
Author: Elysia NiemiFounded in 1999 as First Solar Holdings, LLC), in Phoenix, Arizona, the company has since taken the nation by storm, expanding production overseas and selling panels in the EU in a marketplace where government subsides promise the largest reward.
But that is changing, with the EUs two largest solar aficionados (Germany and Spain) cutting back their subsidies in the wake of persistent recession. So First Solar, whose Q3 stock took a hit on worldwide projections of stockpiled solar panels and lower prices for silicon chips, is pulling in its wings and ramping up locally.
First Solar recently spent $100 million to boost the capacity of its Perrysburg, Ohio solar panel production facility, adding a fourth production line that will make the total capacity 2.8 million panels a year (up from 2 million) beginning in March of 2010. The facility also adds office space and research center, expected to create 140 new jobs.
First Solar also manufactures in Germany and Malaysia, and as one of the most respected solar companies in the nation was added to the Standard &Poors Index in October. The S&P is a stock market analytics tool like the Dow Jones and NASDAQ, comprised of leading U.S. companies.
On Feb. 24, First Solar announced that it had brought manufacturing costs for solar panels down to $1 per watt, down from $3 over the past four years, a feat it accomplished by increasing production 50-fold.
The company, which expanded from production into rooftop solar, and then into utility-scale solar, has 1.3 gigawatts of solar electricity either on the ground or ready to launch; this, in spite of the fact that total U.S. production (1.6 gigawatts) ranks fourth globally, behind Germany, Spain and Japan.
The planned utility-scale projects face obstacles, both from the recession and from Western environmentalists and politicians opposed to solar farms in or near the Mojave Desert and other areas of critical habitat. These include the 550-megawatt installation in for San Luis Obispo County, California, the 250-megawatt installation in Riverside County, and the 200-megawatt project planned for San Bernardino.
Projects likely to be completed include a 10-megawatt system in Wyandot County, Ohio;
7.65 megawatts in Blythe, California; 30 megawatts in Cimarron, New Mexico; and an ongoing contract with Solar City to supply rooftop panels for residential solar.
First Solar also recently entered into a cooperative venture with the Chinese government to build a 2-gigawatt plant in an autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, expected to start construction in June of 2010 a development whose electricity will likely be priced by a feed-in tariff structure set in place late this year or early next year, according to a First Solar executive.
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