Article published October 07, 2008
First Solar kicks off Perrysburg Township expansion
Project cited as economic engine
The firm's local factory, its only one in North America, will double in size and add a fourth production line.
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BLADE PHOTOS/AMY E. VOIGT
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By LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
Officials from what has become one of the area's premier manufacturers gathered with elected officials yesterday to kick off construction of a 500,000-square-foot ray of hope in an otherwise cloudy financial horizon.
First Solar Inc., a Tempe, Ariz., company with deep roots in Toledo, officially broke ground yesterday on a huge expansion project at its solar-panel production plant in Perrysburg Township.
The expansion, expected to be completed by 2010, will add a fourth production line, a research and development center, and approximately 135 jobs. The factory will double in size.
"This expansion serves as an economic engine, an economic engine that creates jobs," said First Solar President Bruce Sohn. He said the newly expanded plant would be able to boost annual production of solar panels from 144 megawatts now to 192 megawatts.
Among elected officials who helped kick off construction were U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich and Gov. Ted Strickland.
Current employees applaud the start of the 500,000-square-foot project.
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"This factory in Ohio is a powerhouse, both literally and figuratively," the company president said. "Literally, we make products - products that make power. This Ohio manufacturing plant is making a contribution to energy supply, it's exporting energy from northwest Ohio, creating a cleaner and healthier environment."Announced in August, the expansion will add to First Solar's work force, which now numbers about 700.
First Solar, which more than tripled its sales to $464 million in the first half of 2008, had the fastest-growing stock on Wall Street in 2007. The stock has suffered significant declines this year, however.
The firm is an outgrowth of a marriage of the research of Toledo glass manufacturing pioneer Harold McMaster and the wealth of retailing heir John Walton and is considered a world leader in low-cost thin-film technologies.
Advocates believe thin-film technologies have the potential to reduce the cost of solar-produced electricity to a range competitive with that of fossil fuels.
The vast majority of glass panels made at First Solar are shipped to solar-energy farms in Europe and Asia, but Mr. Sohn said a growing number are going to the Western United States.
Governor Strickland said, "I talk about this company all over Ohio and all over the nation when I travel."
Senator Voinovich, a Republican, noted First Solar's ability to fly in the face of stiff economic headwinds to bring advanced energy solutions to a power-hungry world.
"There aren't too many groundbreakings taking place in Ohio these days," he said. "We're breaking ground today on a facility that represents a critical part of Ohio's future economy and the creation of good-paying … jobs."
In an interview with The Blade, Mr. Sohn said the company chose to expand in Perrysburg Township, home to its only manufacturing and research facility in the United States, because the costs were competitive with the company's Asian sites and because the local site provides an opportunity to expand research and further standardize manufacturing.
"We were able to leverage the existing overhead and the existing knowledge and capability so that the incremental cost is comparable to Malaysia. The cost of adding a single line here is roughly the same as adding [a line] in Malaysia," Mr. Sohn said.
"This is our [research and development] hub. This is where we've got the bulk of our engineers. A lot of our basic research occurs right here in Perrysburg."
Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:
lvellequette@theblade.com
or 419-724-6091.
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