Leeward Renewable Energy and First Solar Announce Multi-Year Agreement for 1GW Solar Module Procurement

Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE) and First Solar announced that they have entered into an additional multi-year framework supply agreement, through which First Solar will provide LRE with 1 gigawatt (GW)DC of advanced, ultra-low carbon thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules.

LRE will deploy these modules across its 20GW solar development and construction pipeline in the U.S. over 2023 and 2024.

The agreement lies on the foundation of a long, productive relationship between the two companies, that is advancing decarbonization through the use of clean solar energy.

This latest agreement expands LRE’s order book with First Solar to over 3GW of modules that are estimated to enable the build of 18 new sites from 2022 - 2024. 

“We are pleased to build on our strong relationship with First Solar and support the expansion of domestic solar manufacturing,” said Eran Mahrer, Chief Strategy Officer, LRE. “This agreement creates significant growth opportunities bringing stability, predictability, and diminished risk from geopolitical tensions to our solar module supply chain, and by extension to our finance, construction, and offtake partners. We look forward to working closely with First Solar and other U.S.-based component manufacturers as we aggressively expand our solar portfolio.”

First Solar is investing $680 million for the expansion of America’s domestic PV solar manufacturing capacity by 3.3 GW per year, by building its third manufacturing facility in the country, in Lake Township, Ohio.

The new facility is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2023 and when fully functional will scale the company’s Northwest Ohio footprint to a total annual capacity of 6 GW, which is believed to make it the largest fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing complex outside of China. 

Additionally, First Solar also operates facilities in Vietnam and Malaysia, and is establishing a new 3.3 GW factory in India that is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2023.