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    First Solar Acquires 1.2 Million sq ft Facility for Distribution Center in Ohio

    Jan. 23, 2024
    The company intends to invest over $2 billion in new manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Louisiana and include 14 GW of fully vertically integrated US solar manufacturing capacity by 2026
    Department of Energy
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    First Solar has acquired a 1.2 million sq ft facility in Troy Township, Ohio, which will be repurposed into a distribution center to serve the company’s three manufacturing facilities in Ohio with a combined annual nameplate capacity of approximately 6 GW.

    “As we prepare to expand our Ohio capacity by almost a gigawatt this year, there’s a need for our logistics and distribution capabilities to scale to match manufacturing growth,” said Mike Koralewski, Chief Supply Chain Officer of First Solar. “We intend to use this facility to ensure the efficient and timely shipping of modules to our customers, repurposing it into a dedicated distribution hub for the largest solar manufacturing footprint in the Western Hemisphere.”

    The company intends to invest over $2 billion in new manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Louisiana and include 14 GW of fully vertically integrated US solar manufacturing capacity by 2026. 

    Additionally, First Solar is investing up to $370 million in an R&D innovation center in Perrysburg, Ohio, which is expected to be completed in 2024.

    “In the long term, the flexible space that the facility affords us could also serve as a light-scale satellite manufacturing location with the potential to support our factories and R&D center in Ohio,” added Koralewski.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.