First Solar Commits to PV McFactory for Sempra in Nevada (FSLR, SRE)

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) announced that the company will construct a 10 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) power plant for Sempra Generation near Boulder City, Nevada.  Sempra Generation is a unit of San Diego, California-based Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE).

First Solar will design, engineer and construct the turnkey PV power plant.  As part of the agreement it will also provide monitoring and maintenance services for the plant over its lifetime.

Sempra Generation will be the developer and it will own and operate theplant after completion. Construction began in July and is expected tobe completed by the end of 2008.

As far as how this fits into the relative size of the deal, First Solarexpects to ship 420 to 460 MW of PV modules in all of 2008.  While thisis smaller than many might expect, we’d note that if the company can dothese on a turnkey basis as this is described then it actually has ablueprint it can license around the world with its partners.  The trickis protecting all the trade secrets and designs as First Solar isdeemed one of the most advanced in solar power technology globally.

Jon C. Ogg
July 24, 2008