Solar and energy storage developer SolAmerica Energy has signed a solar module supply agreement with Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar module manufacturer First Solar.
SolAmerica will receive delivery of 205MW worth of First Solar’s Series 6 Plus and Series 7 modules in 2024 and 2025. The panels will be deployed across “a portfolio of community solar projects, three commercial and industrial projects, and a portfolio of projects that will supply municipal utilities and electric cooperatives.”
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Tully Blalock, CEO of SolAmerica Energy said: “These modules will be deployed in projects across the country, including the Midwest, where the majority of the modules in the agreement are manufactured. SolAmerica is all-in on buying American solar and this agreement is the centerpiece of that commitment.”
As of November 2023, First Solar’s backlog of module supply orders had surpassed 80GW, which it expects to extend into 2030.
First Solar has expanded its US manufacturing footprint considerably in recent times, becoming the largest producer in the country. In September 2023, it broke ground on the foundations for its fifth US manufacturing facility in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. This site joined the company’s existing factories in Alabama and its main operational base in Ohio. First Solar also inaugurated a 3.3GW manufacturing plant in India last month.
It is targeting 14GW of module capacity in the US, and 25GW worldwide, by 2026.
This year has the potential to be a significant year for First Solar, partly because of its unique position as the only leading solar module manufacturer making CdTe thin-film products – a position which isolates it from the turbulence and possible downturn on the horizon for the crystalline silicon solar market. PV Tech head of research Finlay Colville examined this situation in a blog for this site late last year.