TEMPE, Ariz. - First Solar Inc. announced it has manufactured and shipped more than 1 gigawatt (GW), or 1 billion watts, of its photovoltaic (PV) solar modules in 2009, becoming the first PV company to attain this production volume in a single year. 

One gigawatt of solar modules produces enough electricity to serve the needs of approximately 145,000 average American homes and saves roughly 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. 

First Solar, which makes cadmium telluride solar cells and panels, produced only about 75 megawatts in 2007, and between 420 megawatts and 460 megawatts in 2008, according to the company's own statistics.

But due to recent company activity, the leap isn't unexpected: the solar company has been signing massive deals with municipalities over the last year. In March, First Solar announced that it had acquired the rights to complete about 1,300 megawatts worth of utility-scale projects that its rival OptiSolar was unable to finish. Then in August, First Solar signed a deal with Southern California Edison to supply solar modules for a 250-megawatt solar power installation for Desert Center in Riverside County and a 300-megawatt installation in San Bernardino County.

There is promise of more to come. In September, First Solar announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with China to partner on a massive, 2,000-megawatt power plant in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. While the entire project is not scheduled to be completed until 2019, 1,000 megawatts are to be installed by 2014

"This proof that the solar industry can achieve the manufacturing scale necessary to fight climate change is especially timely in light of the Copenhagen conference that began last week," said Bruce Sohn, First Solar president. "Our efforts in scaling our technology are critical to creating a more sustainable energy infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

First Solar has continually lowered the cost of manufacturing solar modules, breaking the $1 per watt barrier earlier this year.

Copyright Green Technology Daily 2009. All rights reserved.

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