Silicon Ranch expands First Solar module supply plan to 6.2 GW

February 27, 2023 Michael Schoeck

U.S. solar manufacturing company First Solar recently expanded capacity.

Image: First Solar

Silicon Ranch, a Nashville-based independent power producer, has procured an additional 1.5 GW of advanced U.S.-made thin film solar modules from First Solar, Inc.

First Solar’s Series 6 Plus modules are designed and developed at the company’s research and development facilities in California and Ohio, and manufactured in Ohio.

The deal expands upon the master supply agreement between the two solar businesses that includes a 4 GW transaction announced in April 2022 and, more recently, a 700 MW commitment announced in October 2022. Whereas the prior agreements will supply Silicon Ranch projects through 2025, the 1.5 GW follow-on order will serve projects in 2026 and 2027.

Silicon Ranch has demonstrated a commitment to support domestic manufacturing and to lower the carbon impact of production through large supply agreements with First Solar and Nextracker, as well as a partnership with SOLARCYCLE.

“Through this thoughtful collaboration, we have gained not only the tools we need to best serve the communities where we locate our solar projects, but also the opportunity to further strengthen the domestic solar supply chain and to bring more manufacturing jobs to the U.S.,” said Reagan Farr, co-founder and chief executive officer at Silicon Ranch.

Over the last year, U.S. module supplier First Solar has procured additional multi-year orders from Intersect Power (7.3 GW), Arevon Energy (2 GW), Swift Current Energy (2 GW) and National Grid Renewables (1.6 GW) and Origis Energy (750 MW).

The company recently named Alabama as the site for its fourth manufacturing facility. The Alabama factory is part of the company’s plan to scale its U.S. manufacturing footprint to over 10 GW_DC by 2025. The factory represents an investment of approximately $1.1 billion and is expected to be commissioned by 2025, with a planned annual capacity of 3.5 GW_DC.

For 2023, the developer is nearing completion on two near-term solar facilities for social media giant Meta, the 125 MW_AC DeSoto I Solar Farm in Lee County, Georgia, and the 70 MW_AC McKellar Solar Farm in Madison County, Tennessee.

In response to global solar module supply constraints, developers like Silicon Ranch are seeking U.S.-made solar modules and hardware. Import tariffs, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and the domestic content adder in the Inflation Reduction Act are a few of the market forces behind the push for domestic procurement.

Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar will report its Q4 2022 and full year 2022 earnings after the market closes tomorrow, February 28, and hold a conference call at 4:30pm ET.

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