First Solar has officially broken ground on its four-line CdTe photovoltaic module manufacturing plant in the Dong Nam Industrial Park near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The USD 300 million manufacturing…
First Solar has officially broken ground on its four-line CdTe photovoltaic module manufacturing plant in the Dong Nam Industrial Park near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The USD 300 million manufacturing plant is scheduled to begin commercial production in the second half of 2012 and will employ around 600 associates. Up to 2,000 people will be involved in the construction. The plant, which has the flexibility for future expansion, will produce more than 250MW of First Solar“s advanced, thin-film solar modules per year on four manufacturing lines. The company also plans to install 3MW of its modules on the factory roof. Our Dong Nam factory will play a key role in our plan to nearly double First Solar“s capacity by 2012 and further reduce the cost of solar electricity, said Bruce Sohn, President of First Solar. We look forward to working closely with the Vietnamese authorities in the months and years to come. The factory, which is designed to maximize energy efficiency, will use First Solar“s continuous manufacturing process, which transforms a sheet of glass into a complete solar module in less than 2.5 hours. The factory will also include a recycling plant, which recovers up to 90% of a module“s semiconductor materials and glass, by weight, for use in new solar modules and glass products.