First Solar, a US based manufacturer has reached an agreement with Azure Power Global Limited to provide 600 MW DC of its high-performance, cutting-edge thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. The arrangement is the first for First Solar’s new manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, India, which is set to open in the second part of 2023. According to the agreement, Azure will receive Series 7 photovoltaic (PV) solar modules from First Solar between the fourth quarter of 2023 and 2025.
First Solar’s vertically integrated manufacturing facility, located near Chennai, is projected to have an annual nameplate capacity of 3.3 GW DC and is expected to produce a version of the company’s Series 7 modules that is optimised for the Indian market. In addition to its new manufacturing facility in India and a third factory in the US, both of which are expected to come online in 2023, First Solar recently announced that it plans to invest up to $1.2 billion in building a fourth factory in the US Southeast and expanding the capacity of its existing manufacturing footprint in Ohio.
The new investments are expected to scale the company’s annual manufacturing capacity in the US by 4.4 GWDC allowing it to reach over 20 GWDC of global annual manufacturing capacity by 2025.
REGlobal’s Views: With the Indian government’s focus on reducing import reliance in solar power space, there have been a host of interventions taken to boost domestic manufacturing and secure supply chains. Thus, this is a right move by First Solar to set up a manufacturing base in India, especially in the face of massive solar deployments planned in the next few years.
