> First Solar’s unique selling point is that it’s a fully vertically integrated manufacturer of thin-film PV solar panels. This means they can turn a sheet of glass into a functional solar panel in about four hours, relying heavily on US-sourced materials like glass and steel, the latter of which is being sourced within a 25-mile radius of the new factory.

> The Lawrence County factory, along with First Solar’s three operating factories in Ohio, brings the company’s domestic nameplate manufacturing capacity to almost 11 GW and its global capacity to over 21 GW, once fully online.

> First Solar is also constructing a $1.1 billion, 3.5 GW factory in Louisiana, which is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2025. The company expects to have over 14 GW of annual nameplate capacity in the US and 25 GW globally by the end of 2026.