First Solar Inc. plans to invest $1.1 billion to establish a photovoltaic solar module manufacturing facility in Lawrence County, creating over 700 new jobs in North Alabama. The new factory is part of the company’s previously announced investment in scaling its American manufacturing footprint to over ten gigawatts by 2025.
NSG Pilkington North America supplies First Solar's Lake Township, Ohio, facility with float glass.
The purpose of the facility
The facility in Lawrence County’s Mallard Fox West Industrial Complex is expected to be commissioned in 2025, with a planned annual capacity of 3.5 gigawatts. The new fully vertically integrated facility will join three factories in Ohio, including one that will come online in the first half of 2023, to form First Solar’s expanded domestic manufacturing footprint.
The Alabama facility is expected to advance a strategic push by the company to scale its U.S. manufacturing base in support of the effort to decarbonize the American economy and achieve self-sufficiency in reliable and competitive renewable energy technologies.
What the CEO is saying
“This facility, along with its sister factories in Ohio, will form part of the industrial foundation that helps ensure this transition is powered by American innovation and ingenuity,” says CEO of First Solar Mark Widmar. "Our commitment to responsible solar includes operating facilities that are among the cleanest, safest and most diverse in the country, and we’re pleased to bring our model of responsible solar manufacturing to Alabama. We are proud of the role that this facility will play in creating stable, good-paying manufacturing jobs in the state, demonstrating the economic and social value that clean energy can deliver.”
