First Solar plans $300 million Vietnam plant

US solar panel maker First Solar has said it plans to build a USD300 million factory in Vietnam making it the third Asian country the Arizona-based solar panel maker is active after Malaysia and, most recently, China.

 

According to reports, the Vietnamese government had approved the investment in Ho Chi Minh City's Cu Chi district, in the south of the country.

The move will help Vietnam in its quest to move away from its traditional use of unskilled labor from the countryside to one with more technologically advanced production.

The plant is expected to create approximately 600 green jobs and will be designed to accommodate additional production capacity.

The new factory will further extend First Solar's previously announced capacity additions, including eight lines at its Kulim, Malaysia facility, four lines in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, and two lines in Blanquefort, France.

In early January, First Solar and China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development Co., Ltd. (CGN SEDC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development of Phase 1 of the previously announced solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

The agreement represents an important step forward for the Ordos project, following First Solar's MOU with the Ordos Government in September, 2009, and the Chinese government's recent approval of the pre-feasibility study for Phase 1 in September 2010.

Under the terms of the MOU, First Solar and CGN SEDC will work together to execute the 30 MW AC first-phase demonstration project. CGN SEDC will be the majority project owner and operator, performing the engineering, procurement and construction functions for the project. First Solar will supply its advanced thin-film solar PV modules to the project and will support CGN SEDC with advisory services.