As more and more states have worked to meet their energy needs from clean and renewable sources, the growth of the solar industry has skyrocketed. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. solar capacity has grown from just 0.34 GW in 2008 to nearly 100 GW today--enough to power the equivalent of 18 million average American homes. And the price of solar energy, which at its inception was prohibitively expensive for many applications, has fallen dramatically: since 2014, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped nearly 70%, and solar electricity is now economically competitive with conventional energy sources in most states.
R&D Focus
Significant investment in research and development has driven the tremendous advances in solar technology, and the correlating drop in cost, that we have seen over the last several decades. Arizona-based First Solar has been part of that effort since the 1990s and is now the largest domestic solar manufacturer, with thousands of employees across the United States. The company is a leader in the solar industry, developing, engineering and operating some of the world’s largest grid-connected photovoltaic power plants. It offers corporate, utility scale, and distributed generation solutions as well as opportunities for developers to integrate First Solar technology into new developments.
First Solar prides itself on sustainability and a commitment to “responsible solar.” This overall commitment to sustainability means First Solar isn’t just producing solar panels, but it is producing solar panels with the least possible environmental impact, manufacturing them using less energy, water and semiconductor material and resulting in the best environmental profile in the industry. First Solar is also a long-standing leader in global photovoltaic recycling services for its modules. Since 2009, the company has reduced its energy, water, waste, and carbon intensity per watt produced through improvements in module efficiency, manufacturing throughput and capacity utilization, as well as by implementing resource conservation projects at its facilities. And, just last month, First Solar announced a commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
U.S. Made Panels
First Solar is also unique in the solar industry in that it largely sources supplies and produces its panels here in the United States, without the use of polycrystalline silicon, a critical raw material used in most other solar panels and is primarily manufactured in China. Because of its dominance in polycrystalline silicon manufacturing, China has maintained a firm grip on the global solar industry despite environmental and human rights concerns among federal lawmakers. In contrast, First Solar’s domestically-produced panels are made using advanced thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules, which are a competitive, high-performance, lower-carbon alternative to conventional crystalline silicon PV panels. The importance of First Solar’s commitment to domestic manufacturing is critical as we think about energy security and decoupling U.S. dependency on China.
Helping Meet Private Sector Goals
In addition to its corporate sustainability goals, First Solar is also helping other major corporations meet their own emissions targets. For example, Microsoft is on track to meet its goal of 100 percent renewable energy supply by 2025 for all of its data centers, buildings and campuses with the help of First Solar technology. Microsoft’s new energy-efficient datacenter region in Arizona, called the Azure cloud data center region offering Microsoft cloud services starting this year, will be powered by First Solar’s Sun Streams 2 photovoltaic solar plant and provide the lowest carbon solar electricity available today using First Solar’s proprietary Series 6 module technology. The Series 6 module has a carbon footprint that is up to six times lower than conventional crystalline silicon panels.
Planning for Future Growth
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, PV panels on just 22,000 square miles of the nation’s total land area – about the size of Lake Michigan – could supply enough electricity to power the entire United States. Although we have seen significant growth in solar energy generation, solar accounted for just 2.3 percent of total U.S. electricity in 2020. In sunny Arizona, which is ranked fourth in the nation for solar-powered electricity generation, that percentage was slightly higher, with roughly 8 percent of Arizona’s electricity generation coming from solar. That means there is still tremendous growth potential for solar in the United States, and First Solar is already preparing for it. According to First Solar CEO Mark Widmer, the company will have the capacity to generate panels that produce 6 GW of power annually domestically by 2025. While this still represents a fraction of the growth potential, it demonstrates how First Solar is thinking about future potential of solar generation.
First Solar has played a critical role in the growth and development of solar technology in the United States. Through innovation and a demonstrated commitment to sustainability and responsible production and manufacturing processes, First Solar is demonstrating what it means to be an innovative company.