First Solar Shuts Down Alternative PV Tech Project

TEMPE, Ariz. — First Solar, a Tempe, Ariz.-based producer of thin film solar modules, is closing an alternative photovoltaic technology project rumored to employ the same technology as Solyndra, though the company is not disclosing the details of the research.

First Solar and Solyndra are among a group of Western panel makers undercut by cheaper competition from Chinese manufacturers such as Suntech Power Holdings Co., the world’s largest, according to Bloomberg Reports.

Factory expansion led by Chinese companies triggered a 43 percent plunge in panel prices this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.

First Solar plans to dismiss about 100 employees, including 60 at a Santa Clara, Calif., research center, the company stated in a filing.

The job cuts are part of a reorganization plan to narrow First Solar’s focus to large utility-scale power plants and away from smaller, rooftop installations. The company also slashed its profit and sales forecast.

“We decided to refocus our research and development efforts on another technology that we’ve been using for about 10 years to work on the development of advancing technology for solar generation,” said Alan Bernheimer, director of corporate communications for First Solar’s North America offices.

The company uses a photovoltaic technology based on a semiconductor called cadmium telluride, which has been in production since 2002.

The technology is used to manufacture a total cumulative generation capacity of more than five gigawatts internationally.

“It’s a very successful technology, so we’re sticking with that,” Bernheimer said.

Though news reports stated the research project being shut down involved CIGS — the same technology that Fremont, Calif.-based thin-film solar cell manufacturer Solyndra produced — Bernheimer said First Solar never confirmed any research projects employing the technology.

“It was rumored and written about, but never confirmed,” he said. “We were looking at alternate technologies. Though other people have certainly voiced their opinion that’s what we were working on, we just decided it made more sense to invest our financial and other resources in advancing existing technologies.”

Bernheimer said First Solar developed a solar cell that has 17.3 percent efficiency, compared with the company’s current average module efficiency of 11.8 percent.

“We have a fair amount of confidence there’s a good long brand future for existing technology,” he said.

In a financial report dated Dec. 14, the company forecasted its net sales for 2011 in the range of $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion, down from the company’s prior forecast of $3 billion to $3.3 billion.

“The primary reason for the revised 2011 guidance is continued delays of certain projects in First Solar’s systems business due to weather and other factors,” the statement said.

For 2012, the company forecasts net sales in the range of $3.7 to $4.0 billion, including approximately $1.7 billion from the systems business.

“The forecast already takes into account any impacts of the worldwide market for photovoltaics, including Chinese manufacturers,” Bernheimer said.

The company has received more than $3 billion in U.S. loan guarantees for three projects being developed in the Southwest with a total capacity of 1,070 megawatts — making First Solar the largest single recipient of backing under the U.S. Energy Department program.

Because the projects already have buyers for the electricity they will produce, they carry less risk than guarantees offered for manufacturing plants, according to Bloomberg.

The company’s Agua Caliente project in Yuma County, Ariz. — one of the three projects backed by the loan guarantees — is designed to produce 290 megawatts of power.

The project has been under construction for about a year and is scheduled for completion in 2013, though initial portions of it could come online as soon as February, Bernheimer said.

The second and third projects backed by the loan guarantees are located in Southern California, including the Desert Sunlight project in Riverside County designed to produce 550 megawatts of power slated for completion in 2015.

The final project, located in the northern Los Angeles County in Antelope Valley, is a solar ranch designed to produce 230 megawatts of power that started construction in September and is scheduled for completion in 2013.