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It
is among the first major corporate investments announced
following the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a $430 billion
package of policies aimed at combating climate change that
President Joe Biden signed into law this month. The IRA includes
new tax credits for U.S.-made solar products.
It is also an about-face for the largest U.S. solar panel maker,
which said earlier this summer it was unlikely to build its next
factory in the United States due to the lack of federal support.
Now, First Solar said it would invest $1 billion in a new
factory in the Southeast that will begin operations in 2025. The
company plans to select the location later this year.
It will also spend $185 million to expand production in Ohio,
where it has two facilities and is building a third.
The expansions are expected to create 850 jobs and bring the
company's total U.S. workforce to 3,000.
"We believe that with the IRA we have a durable industrial
policy foundation, one that we have long been advocating for,
that's comprehensive in its foundation and will enable the solar
industry as a whole," Chief Executive Mark Widmar said on a call
with reporters.
Some 90% of panels installed in the United States are made
overseas, but imports have been constrained by pandemic-related
supply chain disruptions, tariff threats and increased border
scrutiny to block supplies linked to forced labor.
U.S. project developers, meanwhile, have flocked to First
Solar's cadmium telluride products in part because the
technology does not rely on polysilicon, a raw material
primarily made in China and used in the vast majority of panels.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by David Gregorio)
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