Leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer First Solar is increasing its shipment guidance for 2018, due to plans to bring back online 180MW of mothballed Series 4 module capacity at its Perrysburg, Ohio manufacturing facility.
The major manufacturing transition by First Solar to its large-area Series 6 CdTe thin-film module format is well underway and, going by recent management commentary in its fourth quarter 2017 conference call with financial analysts, has increased its tempo slightly, not least due to updated spending plans for the second time in a few months.
Leading solar thin-film manufacturer First Solar is to build a 200MW (AC) PV power plant for Georgia Power’s REDI Program, using over half a million CdTe modules.
First Solar and SunPower have agreed to sell their Joint Venture solar power plant yieldco, 8point3 Energy Partners, to energy investment firm Capital Dynamics, Inc., for US$977 million in equity value and about US$1.7 billion in enterprise value in an all cash transaction.
Leading thin-film manufacturer First Solar highlighted at its 2017 Analyst Day event that it had recently fabricated the first functional CdTe Series 6 thin-film panel at its Perrysburg, Ohio plant, which is spearheading the transition to the larger format at all of the company’s manufacturing plants based in Malaysia and Vietnam.
Leading thin-film manufacturer First Solar said at its 2017 Analyst Day event that it was already building its second CdTe module plant in Vietnam to support the transition to its Series 6 large format panel.
When manufacturing capacities moved from megawatt to gigawatt ten years ago, the concept of having a fully-integrated and automated production site was widely accepted to be the most economical, Finlay Colville examines whether this is truly the case.
