First Solar has inaugurated its new $1.1bn fully vertically integrated, thin-film solar manufacturing facility in Lawrence County, Alabama. 

According to First Solar, the facility adds 3.5GW of fully vertically integrated nameplate solar manufacturing capacity in the US and is expected to create more than 800 new energy technology manufacturing jobs in Alabama. 

The Series 7 modules that will be made at the facility will use locally sourced steel. 

The company’s proprietary manufacturing process converts sheets of glass into thin-film solar panels. The new facility’s solar value chain operates under one roof, covering the transformation from semiconductor to wafer to cell to module.  

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commented: “This production facility is destined to become a major player in the US renewable energy market. The Alabama workers at this facility will help break the nation’s dependence on foreign-made solar panels and contribute to our energy independence.” 

First Solar CEO Mark Widmar added: “This is the first of two fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing facilities that solidify the role of the Gulf Coast states in enabling America’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.” 

First Solar is also constructing a $1.bn, 3.5GW facility in Louisiana, which is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2025.  

The Alabama facility, along with three operating factories in Ohio, brings the company’s domestic nameplate manufacturing capacity to almost 11GW and its global capacity to more than 21GW, once fully ramped. 

First Solar anticipates having 14GW of annual nameplate capacity in the US and 25GW globally by the end of 2026. 

In 2020, the company named its Luz Del Norte power plant in Chile as the world’s first licensed utility-scale solar facility to commercially deliver ancillary grid services. 

Power Technology’s parent company, GlobalData, predicts the US solar PV market will achieve a compound annual growth rate of more than 15% by 2035.