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A Renewable Properties solar project (not featuring First Solar modules). Image: Renewable Properties
US community solar developer Renewable Properties has acquired 118MW of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar modules from US solar manufacturer First Solar.
The modules will be deployed at small-scale utility and community solar projects across 17 US states, Renewable Properties said, with the largest portion going to nine Californian projects with a cumulative 51MW of capacity. Another 20MW of modules will be allocated for four projects in New York, and 8MW will be used for three projects in Illinois. The rest will go to sites across the company’s portfolio.
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The modules in question are First Solar’s monofacial Series 7 panels, manufactured in the US. The CdTe thin-film producer currently has five operational manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Louisiana and Ohio, with a plan to develop a sixth in South Carolina by the end of 2026.
“With domestically manufactured equipment secured to execute on these projects in multiple states, we’re on track to expand solar deployment at a time when electricity demand is increasing rapidly, while the solar industry faces new challenges,” said Aaron Halimi, founder and CEO of Renewable Properties.
Renewable Properties currently has over 1.7GW of small-scale solar and energy storage projects under development in the US across 17 states, alongside a further 320MW currently under construction.
First Solar US solar manufacturing
Mounir El Asmar, First Solar’s head of strategic accounts, added: “Genuinely American solar manufacturing directly enables American energy dominance. By investing in domestically produced modules, Renewable Properties is putting that principle into practice”.
First Solar is the largest solar manufacturer by capacity in the US, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Its CdTe thin-film technology is distinct from the majority of the global silicon-based solar supply chain, which dominates almost all other module production capacity and is overwhelmingly controlled by Chinese companies.
This technology choice has played a part in First Solar’s ability to establish a substantive US manufacturing base, as the various tariffs and other trade protection measures on solar products entering the US have focused on the Chinese-dominated silicon supply chain. First Solar has also played a part in petitioning for antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations into silicon-based solar imports from Southeast Asia, which have raised hurdles for upstream US solar component supply.
Since the reelection of President Donald Trump, the company has also said it would benefit from a reduction in Federal support for US solar and greater trade protectionism.