After a short period that First Solar may rather like to forget, what with CEO Rob Gillette suddenly leaving and the company recording a big fourth quarter (Q4) earnings miss, the event has given First Solar a reason to celebrate.
The new plant took one year to construct and bring up to full operations, and represents an investment of 170 million euros. The ramp-up of production took four months to complete. First Solars workforce at Frankfurt (Oder) has increased from 650 to 1,200.
pv magazine was given an exclusive tour of the facility in September with management admitting that while given market conditions the firm is "under pressure", First Solar had not been forced to alter efficiency or cost roadmaps to compete in the market.
The company also emphasized that module efficiency gains are crucial to its cost-per-watt reduction strategy. At present First Solar reports module efficiencies of 11.7 cents and its cost per watt performance to amounting to USD0.75 cents.
Managing director of Manufacturing at the Frankfurt (Oder) plants, Burghard von Westerholt, also told pv magazine that while costs are important, quality remains crucial. As such, a feature of the new FF02 plant is a quality assurance laboratory, where modules are subjected to a wide range of tests, performed by its 50 technicians.
The FF02 inauguration today was attended by Brandenburg Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck, Environment Ministry representatives and the Chairman of the parliamentary Greens / Bündis 90 Party of the German Parliament. At the same time, the production of First Solars one-millionth module produced at the site was recognized.
FF02 was built and equipped using First Solars "Smart Copy" principal, which allows improvements made at one plant to be rolled out worldwide at the companys plants. It also demonstrates First Solars "complete life-cycle approach to manufacturing", featuring g a modernized module recycling facility and two rooftop photovoltaic installations.
The rooftop installations are worth 2.8 MW, with FF02s installation 0.2 MWs bigger than FF01. This is not, however, the only difference between the two plants at the Frankfurt (Oder) site. Touring the FF02 facility a sense of space is apparent, with the plant covering 50,000 square meters.
In a release announcing todays event, Tymen DeJong, Senior Vice President for Global Operations was quoted as saying: "Our additional investment shows: Germany is a key market for solar energy and an important production location for First Solar."
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