With all the hubbub surrounding Solyndra's IPO filing and SunRun's new $90 million for residential solar panels, many haven't been paying attention to the solar industry's looming giant: First Solar, the largest solar power provider in the world, based in Tempe, Ariz. But today the company reasserted its dominance, opening the largest photovoltaic power plant in the state of California, while also announcing plans to assemble more solar panels in Europe.
First Solar (FSLR.O), one of the few public solar companies, is one of the most influential forces in the renewable energy market. All of the smaller players -- from eSolar to NanoSolar to Ausra to Sunpower to China's Suntech -- look to it as an indicator of where prices, deals and industry trends are headed. It also gives cues to investors and entrepreneurs looking to carve out a niche in the growing solar space.
The message being sent today: Utility-scale solar is possible, given the right amount of capital and partnerships. First Solar built the plant (beating its deadline by three months), and sold it to NRG Energy last month -- though it will continue to operate it. With 21 megawatts of capacity, it is slated to power 17,000 homes covered by Southern California Edison. The utility has signed a contract to purchase the energy for the next 20 years.
This is just the first of many similar projects in the hopper for First Solar, which has plans to build a 48-megawatt plant in California to supply power to Pacific Gas & Electric. It's goal is being helped along by California's new renewable energy requirement -- that 33 percent of all energy come from alternative sources by 2020. The state and its utilities will depend on companies like First Solar -- one of the few with the resources necessary to make utility-scale solar a reality.
California isn't the only place where First Solar is seeing action. Along with opening its power plant today, it announced plans to build what will be its second European panel manufacturing facility in France. The company will break ground in the latter half of next year, promising that the $150 million facility will create at least 400 jobs near Bordeaux. It is expected to produce 100 megawatts worth of panels every year by 2012.
The French factory will join a pipeline of eight other production lines in the works in Malaysia. By the end of next year, the company expects to be churning out 1.8 gigawatts-worth of panels.
Of course First Solar benefits a lot from its already solid finances and its brand recognition. But its also boosted by the low price of the thin-film solar modules it makes. The company is said to make the cheapest solar panels in the business. That means a lot in an industry that will need to bring its costs down sharply in the next year to compete with natural gas and coal.
Last week, we reported on First Solar's lofty expectations for 2010. It publicly predicted revenue between $2.7 and $2.9 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $2.4 billion. Now these numbers make more sense given the company's past and future wins. Just today, the company's share price went up $1.32 to hit $136.99.