First Solar to Build $1 Billion Assembly Plant in Alabama

Shining a New Light on Solar Module Assembly

This state-of-the-art assembly plant in Ohio produces thin-film solar panels. PHOTO COURTESY FIRST SOLAR INC.

FLORENCE, AL—First Solar Inc. has selected Alabama as the site of a more than $1 billion factory that will assemble solar modules.

The plant, to be located in Lauderdale County in the Tennessee Valley region, will create more than 700 jobs. The factory is part of a previously announced plan to increase First Solar’s U.S. manufacturing capacity to more than 10 gigawatts by 2025. It already has three assembly plants in Ohio, one of which is expected to begin production next year.

The project will bring the company’s total investment in U.S. manufacturing to more than $4 billion.

A bill signed by President Joe Biden in August will direct spending, tax credits and loans to bolster technology like solar panels; consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency; emissions-reducing equipment for coal- and gas-powered power plants; and air pollution controls for farms, ports and low-income communities.

First Solar CEO Mark Widmar said that legislation “has firmly placed America on the path to a sustainable energy future,” and the new plants will help with the transition toward cleaner energy, which supporters say will help stem climate change.

The ASSEMBLY Show South

ASSEMBLY is thrilled to return to the Music City Center in Nashville, TN for The ASSEMBLY Show SOUTH on May 1-2, 2024. This is a booming time for manufacturing and the U.S. South is right in the heart of the action. According to ASSEMBLY’s most recent annual capital spending survey, the South is projected to account for 31 percent of total spending this year, marking the fifth straight year this region has accounted for at least 30 percent of capital spending in the U.S.

In this session, manufacturers will learn how Quality function deployment (QFD) can transform consumers’ qualitative demands into quantitative parameters that will shape the design of their product and, ultimately, their manufacturing process.

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