News

14 January 2010

 

First Solar acquires project development pipeline of Edison Mission Group

First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, which makes thin-film photovoltaic modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe), has completed the acquisition of a portion of Edison Mission Group’s (EMG) solar project development pipeline.

First Solar and EMG have worked together on the projects since October 2008, with First Solar providing engineering, procurement and construction services while EMG was responsible for land acquisition and permitting. First Solar will now handle all development for the projects, including permitting. “First Solar is a good partner and the obvious purchaser of our interest in these projects, which we have jointly developed,” says Gerry Loughman, EMG’s senior VP of development.

“It builds on our strategy to cultivate robust and predictable module demand in utility-scale applications,” says Lisa Bodensteiner, First Solar’s VP of business development for North America. The acquisition complements and diversifies First Solar’s existing portfolio of utility-scale thin-film photovoltaic solar projects, which are largely sited on public land, range up to 550MW in size, and are mostly under contract with utilities. Located in California and the Southwest, the EMG projects are sited largely on private land, range from 20 to 150MW, and are not yet contracted with utilities.

Anticipated module demand for EMG projects was included in advanced pipeline information provided last December by First Solar. In December, the firm completed development and construction of its first California utility-scale solar power plant, the 21MW AC Blythe project, which was sold to NRG Energy Inc of Princeton, NJ and supplies electricity to Southern California Edison.

See related items:

First Solar and NRG start up California’s largest PV plant

First Solar sells California’s largest PV power plant to NRG

First Solar wins CdTe PV contracts: 55MW for Los Angeles and 550MW for Southern California Edison

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