US thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has secured a five-year revolving credit and guarantee facility for US$1 billion.
Financial entity JP Morgan Chase Bank acted as lead arranger and is administrative agent for the facility which includes up to US$250 million available for the issuance of letters of credit.
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Other banks who participated in the facility include joint lead arrangers Bank of America, Citibank, Credit Agricole CIB, and PNC Bank, as well as participating lenders BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, HSBC Bank USA, MUFG Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Truist Bank.
The cadmium telluride (CdTe) manufacturer aims to add 8GW of new capacity between the second half of 2023 and 2026, when it expects to have an annual production capacity of 20GW globally.
On top of expanding its current thin-film module capacity, the company plans to invest up to US$370 million in building a new research and development facility in Ohio that is expected to be commissioned in 2024.
Mark Widmar, chief executive officer, First Solar, said: “We are focused on exiting this decade in a stronger position than we entered it and liquidity is a crucial differentiator that we intend to maintain. This revolving credit facility provides us the financial headroom and flexibility we need, while also balancing our ability to grow in response to demand for our technology.”
The company continues to ink supply agreements, the latest one with independent power producer Capital Power for 1GW of Series Plus 6 modules no less than earlier this week. The company had already sold out its supply capacity through 2026 as of April, with a backlog surpassing 70GW at the time.
This year alone, First Solar has secured supply agreements with IPP Silicon Ranch for 1.5GW which brought the total between the companies to 6.2GW through 2027, Lightsource bp inked a 4GW deal for First Solar’s modules from 2026-28, solar developer Origis Energy signed for delivery of 2GW of modules in 2026-27 and Portuguese developer EDP Renewables bought 1.8GW through 2028.
Furthermore, the company’s foray in India resulted in the company being awarded in the second round of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) with a production capacity of 3.4GW and INR11.78 billion (US$142 million) allocated that is expected to be commissioned in the second half of this year. Whereas in Europe, it has expanded its activity with the recent acquisition of Swedish thin-film company Evolar in May 2023, which will help the company accelerate the development of PV technology.