After IRA Passage, First Solar Is Investing $1.2 Billion To Develop U.S. Factories.

First Solar (FSLR) is investing $1.2 billion to increase the size of its U.S. manufacturing footprint, supporting President Biden’s efforts to boost local production and lessen America’s reliance on Chinese supply chains.

First Solar, the largest solar company located in the United States, intends to invest $1 billion in a new, completely vertically integrated facility in the Southeast and an additional $185 million to upgrade and extend its current presence in northwest Ohio.

According to First Solar CEO Mark Widmar, the move enables the company to increase its solar capacity in the U.S. to 10 gigawatts over the following three years, or enough to create a solar panel every 1.6 seconds.

According to Widmar, “This expansion is a crucial step toward reaching self-sufficiency and solar technology, which in turn supports America’s objectives for sustainable energy security, its deployment of solar at scale, and its capacity to lead with innovation.”

First Solar (FSLR) is investing $1.2 billion to increase the size of its U.S. manufacturing footprint, supporting President Biden’s efforts to boost local production and lessen America’s reliance on Chinese supply chains.

First Solar, the largest solar company located in the United States, intends to invest $1 billion in a new, completely vertically integrated facility in the Southeast and an additional $185 million to upgrade and extend its current presence in northwest Ohio.

According to First Solar CEO Mark Widmar, the move enables the company to increase its solar capacity in the U.S. to 10 gigawatts over the following three years, or enough to create a solar panel every 1.6 seconds.

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According to Widmar in a recent interview, “This expansion is a key step towards reaching self-sufficiency and solar technology, which in turn supports America’s objectives for sustainable energy security, its deployment of solar at scale, and its capacity to lead with innovation.”
The declaration follows the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which secured tax incentives worth billions of dollars to hasten the United States’ switch to renewable energy. In addition to a $10 billion investment tax credit for the construction of clean technology manufacturing facilities, such as those for solar panels, the law allots around $30 billion in production tax credits for solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and essential minerals processing.

We are giving the American market priority because of the choice made to pass the IRA, according to Widmar. “You know, we think that with the IRA, we have a strong platform for industrial policy, one that we’ve long argued for. This foundation is thorough and will benefit the entire solar sector.

The passing of the IRA was a major factor in the nearly 25% increase in First Solar stock over the past month. BofA Securities upgraded the stock for a second time this month as a result of the momentum, predicting that the business will obtain tax credits worth up to 17 cents per watt for producing solar panels. Analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith stated in a recent report that by 2026, the credits will add more than $3 billion in cash to the company’s balance sheet.

A record bookings backlog of 44.3 GW was revealed by First Solar in its most recent earnings report.
The company would be “entitled to the entire production process,” according to Widmar, who did not specify the amount of incentives the company would be eligible for. This is in part because the company specializes in thin film PV modules, unlike its rivals who primarily source crystalline silicon PV cells, a vital component of solar panels imported from China and southeast Asia.
With China producing more than 70% of the world’s polycrystalline silicon, China maintains a tight hold on the production of solar panels. The volatile Xinjiang province, where China is said to have committed a genocide by the United States, has provided more than half of that production.

Two plants for First Solar are now up and running in Perrysburg and Lake Township, Ohio. Its fourth facility’s site has been whittled down to a “small number of states,” and an Arizona-based company hopes to secure a location by the end of the third quarter. Its third Ohio factory is scheduled to be put into operation in the first half of 2023, according to Widmar.
By 2025, First Solar anticipates that the new investment will have added 850 manufacturing positions, bringing its total U.S. workforce to over 3,000.

When choosing a location, Widmar said, “We always consider a variety of factors, including the workforce, the labor force’s quality, the accessibility to our supply chain partners, the ability to access power generation, and competitive power pricing.” It’s a thorough balanced scorecard that must ensure both short- and long-term strategic goals for our manufacturing plant.

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