First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), one of the world’s largest solar module manufacturers and utility systems providers, has completed the acquisition of a portion of Edison Mission Group’s (EMG) solar project development pipeline. The utility-scale solar projects are located in California and the Southwest.
The total capacity of the projects and the acquisition costs were not disclosed.
The acquisition diversifies First Solar’s existing
portfolio of utility-scale projects. First
Solar’s existing projects are largely sited on public land, range to
550 megawatts (MW) in size, and are mostly under contract with
utilities. The EMG projects that First Solar is acquiring are sited
largely on private land, range from 20 to 150MW, and are not yet
contracted with utilities
First Solar and EMG have worked together since 2008 on the EMG projects, with First Solar providing engineering, procurement and construction services while EMG was responsible for land acquisition and permitting. Now First Solar will handle all development for these projects, including permitting.
Anticipated module demand for EMG projects was included in advanced pipeline information provided to First Solar investors in December 2009.
First Solar recently completed development and construction of its first California utility-scale solar power plant in December 2009, the 21MW AC Blythe project that was sold to NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) and supplies electricity to Southern California Edison.
In December, First Solar said it expects to add 10 production lines during 2010 and 2011, increasing its manufacturing capacity by over 48% from current levels, bringing annual capacity to approximately 1.8 gigawatts (GW).
In March 2009, First Solar purchased the project pipeline of OptiSolar for $400 million in stock.
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