First Solar

History

In 1984, inventor and entrepreneur Harold McMaster founded Glasstech Solar. After conducting research on amorphous silicon, he shifted to CdTe and founded Solar Cells, Inc. (SCI) in 1990. In February 1999, SCI was acquired by True North Partners, which then formed First Solar, LLC.

The company is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and has manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio; Trinity, Alabama; New Iberia, Louisiana; Kulim, Malaysia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Chennai, India.

At the end of 2009, First Solar had surpassed an energy power production rate of 1 GW and was the largest producer of PV cells in the world. That same year, First Solar became the first solar panel manufacturing company to lower its manufacturing cost to $1 per watt.

In July 2010, First Solar formed a utility systems business group to address the large-scale PV systems solutions market. Utility systems are now the company's core business focus, with a strategy to focus on markets that do not require subsidies to support the solar generation business.

On April 17, 2012, First Solar announced it would restructure operations worldwide. This restructuring process included phasing out operations in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany and idling four production lines in Kulim, Malaysia. Approximately 30% of First Solar's workforce was laid off as a result of these actions, which were blamed on market volatility and reduced demand. Mark Widmar, then the CFO of First Solar, said, "We need to resize our business to a level of demand that is highly reliable and predictable."

On July 1, 2016, Mark Widmar was appointed CEO of First Solar. Previously he had been chief financial officer. Former CEO Mike Ahearn remains chairman of the board.

In 2022, under the Inflation Reduction Act, First Solar became perhaps the biggest beneficiary of an estimated $1 trillion in environmental spending. First Solar executives and lobbyists met at least four times in late 2022 and 2023 with administration officials who oversaw the measure's environmental provisions. Democratic donors had invested heavily in the company prior to the act being signed into law.

In May 2023, First Solar acquired Evolar, a European company that provided perovskite technology. The deal was valued at $38M USD.

Technology

First Solar manufactures cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based photovoltaic (PV) modules, which produce electricity with a thin film CdTe semiconductor. This technology provides superior performance in degradation rate, temperature coefficient, spectral response, and shading response. At each First Solar manufacturing facility, a vertically integrated, continuous process enables full quality control under one roof, converting a sheet of glass into a fully functional solar panel in approximately four hours. First Solar's manufacturing process uses 98 percent less semiconductor material than traditional crystalline silicon solar panels and yields the lowest carbon footprint, lowest water footprint, and fastest energy payback time in the industry.

In 2013, the company produced CdTe-panels with an efficiency of about 14 percent at a reported cost of 59 cents per watt. In August 2019, researchers from NREL and First Solar published a Nature Energy article demonstrating a way to achieve 20.8% solar cell efficiency. Currently, Series 7 TR1 modules, with an efficiency rating of up to 19.7%, represent topline efficiency among First Solar's module lineup.

Market performance

While First Solar witnessed record sales of over $3.37 billion in 2012, its restructuring efforts impacted the bottom line, leading to a net loss of $96.3 million – or $1.11 per share – for the year.

Historically, the low cost of First Solar's modules has been the key to its market performance. The use of cadmium telluride instead of silicon allowed it to achieve a significantly lower module cost ($0.67 per watt), compared to crystalline-silicon PV, which averaged $1.85 per watt in 2010.