First Solar, Inc. announced an agreement to supply Birch Creek Energy with 547 MW of advanced Series 6 Plus bifacial thin film solar modules.
Birch Creek Energy, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is a utility-scale solar developer that develops, finances and owns utility-scale solar and storage projects in the U.S.
Operating since 2019, the company has developed 1.7 GW of solar projects and has a portfolio of over 14.2 GW of utility-scale solar and storage projects in various stages of development across MISO, PJM, ERCOT and the Southeast. The company was named the 3rd fastest growing privately-held company in America, and fastest-growing energy company on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list.
Birch Creek says it plans to deploy the First Solar modules in projects across its development pipeline in the United States.
“We are pleased to establish this relationship with First Solar, which we expect will enable certainty of module supply for a critical part of our development pipeline,” said Dan Siegel, CEO of Birch Creek. “By choosing to buy our modules from First Solar, we are strengthening our domestic content strategy with a trusted partner that delivers a competitive product.”
First Solar had a U.S.-made nameplate capacity 6 GW at the end of 2023, and is expected to expand to 14 GW by 2026 with announced manufacturing expansion in the U.S. Its $1.1 billion Alabama factory and $185 million expansion of its existing facilities in Ohio are expected to bring its total investment in American manufacturing to over $4 billion.. It expects to add at least 850 new manufacturing jobs and over 100 new R&D jobs, taking its total number of direct jobs in the U.S. to over 3,000 people in four states by 2025.
In addition to providing multi-gigawatts of domestic content to the U.S. market, First Solar’s investments in U.S. manufacturing are also bringing jobs. According to a recent study commissioned by First Solar, current operations supported an estimated 16,245 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in 2023, representing approximately $1.6 billion in annual labor income. The company says that in 2026 it is forecast to support an estimated 30,060 direct, indirect, and induced jobs across the country. The study projects that every direct job First Solar supports in 2026 will support 7.3 jobs nationwide.
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