Bloomberg has reported that work on the US$1.8 billion project, which reached the 200 MW milestone in mid-July, is "ahead of schedule and the company must slow down to meet contractual milestones." According to construction manager, Fred Pech, shipments arent expected to resume until January 2013.
Citing Maxim Group LLC analyst, Aaron Chew, Bloomberg said the move came, despite the fact construction on the plant was accelerated this year, meaning it is now diverting shipments to other projects. Speaking to the news source, Chew stated, "First Solar delivered panels to the project ‘because it was more profitable'." He added, "They overdid Agua Caliente."
He went on to say that the news is not expected to affect First Solars earnings in 2012. "However, it does highlight the extent to which theyre pulling things forward, with bigger risks in 2013 and 2014."
The Agua Caliente project is owned by NRG and MidAmerican Solar. To date, it is said to be the largest operating photovoltaic plant globally. It is scheduled for completion in 2014.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.