US thin film manufacturer First Solar has landed an agreement to supply 2.4GW of its thin film PV modules to US renewables developer Intersect Power, making the company become one of the largest users of First Solar products.
Portland, Oregon-based Intersect has previously placed orders in 2019 and 2021 for a total of 4.1 GW of First Solar’s modules and expects roughly 6.4 GW to be deployed by 2027.
Produced in First Solar’s Northwest Ohio manufacturing complex, the modules from the latest order are scheduled to be delivered from 2024 to 2026.
They will be used in Intersect solar, storage and green hydrogen projects throughout the US that are expected to come online from 2025 through to 2027. At the end of June, the company secured US$750 million in funding to take its portfolio of renewables, energy storage and green hydrogen projects beyond 8GW.
“Intersect Power’s ongoing relationship with First Solar has been critical in rapidly scaling our business to meet our vision and reliably delivering our customers value and performance to support their decarbonisation goals,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO at Intersect Power, as he praised First Solar’s US production base.
In June last year, First Solar committed to investing US$680 million to expand the US’ domestic PV manufacturing capacity by 3.3GW annually through building a third US manufacturing facility in Lake Township, Ohio.
The new facility is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2023 and when fully operational will scale the company’s Northwest Ohio footprint to a total annual capacity of 6GW, the company said in a media release.
Just last week (29 July), following the news that Democrats had agreed a deal for a new stimulus package – dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act – that includes support for domestic solar manufacturing, First Solar said it will consider expanding its production footprint in the US further if the proposed legislation becomes law.
The statement was made as part of its Q2 2022 financial results that saw the company post net sales of US$621 million during Q2, slightly down on the US$629 million recorded in the same quarter last year.