First Solar Commissions Western Hemisphere’s Largest Solar R&D Center

First Solar, Inc. commissioned a new research and development (R&D) innovation center in Lake Township, OH, believed to be the largest facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

The Jim Nolan Center for Solar Innovation is dedicated to the late James “Jim” F. Nolan, a former member of First Solar’s Board of Directors and the architect of the company’s cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor platform.

The facility covers 1.3 million square feet and includes a high-tech pilot manufacturing line allowing for the production of full-sized prototypes of thin film and tandem PV modules. Prior to the commissioning of the Jim Nolan Center, First Solar utilized a manufacturing line at its Perrysburg facility for its late-stage product development efforts.

This arrangement limited the flexibility for development efforts and created constraints when mission-critical tools had to go offline. By resolving these limitations and constraints, the new facility is expected to accelerate innovation cycles.

“Thin films are the next technological battleground for the solar industry because they are key to commercializing tandem devices, which are anticipated to be the next disruption in photovoltaics,” said Mark Widmar, CEO, First Solar. “While the United States leads the world in thin film PV, China is racing to close the innovation gap. We expect that this crucial investment in R&D infrastructure will help maintain our nation’s strategic advantage in thin film, accelerating the cycles of innovation needed to ensure that the next disruptive, transformative solar technology will be American-made.”

The Jim Nolan Center is part of an approximately half-billion dollar investment by First Solar in R&D infrastructure, and the company expects to also commission a perovskite development line at its Perrysburg, OH, campus in the second half of 2024. The company, which has invested almost $2 billion in R&D, operates laboratories in Santa Clara, CA, and Perrysburg, OH, in the US, and Uppsala in Sweden.

Significantly, First Solar’s California Technology Center (CTC) in Santa Clara recently achieved a 23.1% efficient CdTe cell, a new world record certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

First Solar, founded in 1999 and celebrating 25 years of operations this year, is unique among the world’s largest solar manufacturers for being the only US-headquartered company and for scaling the production of thin film solar panels. The company exited 2023 with 16.6 gigawatts (GW) of annual global nameplate manufacturing capacity and is expected to achieve over 25 GW of capacity by 2026.

First Solar expects to commission new manufacturing facilities in Alabama in the second half of 2024 and Louisiana in the second half of 2025, bringing its total US nameplate capacity to 14 GW by 2026.