First Solar opens R&D center in Lake Twp.

First Solar’s opening of a new research and development center in Lake Township will help the company – and country – maintain an advantage in the production of thin film photovoltaic cells, the company’s chief executive office said.
“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, when the company commissioned the plant July 18.
The facility, located at the corner of Tracy Road and State Rt. 795, covers 1.3 million square feet.
The company commissioned the facility in the name of the late James F. Nolan, a former member of the First Solar board of directors and the architect of the company’s cadmium telluride semiconductor platform.
Prior to the opening of the Lake Township plant, the company utilized a manufacturing line at its Perrysburg facility for its late-stage product development. But management said that arrangement limited the flexibility for development efforts and created constraints when critical tools had to go offline.
Company management is hoping to accelerate innovation cycles with the new facility.
The company’s ongoing investment in research and development is projected to create approximately 300 new jobs by 2025, the majority of which will be based at the Lake Township center, which the company believes to be the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere.
In addition to the Lake Township facility, First Solar operates laboratories in Perrysburg and Santa Clara, California in the U.S. and Uppsala in Sweden.
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 U.S. capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2026.
The Jim Nolan Center is part of an approximately $500 million investment by First Solar in R&D infrastructure, and the company expects to also commission a perovskite development line at its Perrysburg campus in the second half of 2024.