First Solar Breaks Ground on New Plant, 500 New Jobs Expected.

First Solar Inc., broke ground on a new $400 million, 1 million square-foot plant in Lake Township on June 8.

The plant is expected to bring about 500 jobs to the region, ranging from maintenance to engineering to technician roles.

This plant will produce the company’s Series 6 solar panel. This plant sits less than a mile away from the company’s current facility in Perrysburg Township, at the center of Tracey Road and Ohio 795. First Solar’s panels are manufactured for commercial, utility-scale and industrial use, and utilized by large utility solar farms, at off-grid industrial sites and on public buildings.

Once this plant is completed, First Solar will produce enough panels at this new site and the Perrysburg plant to generate 1.8 gigawatts of power annually - triple the amount of annual power that its panels produce now at 600 megawatts. This new plant is expected to double the company’s U.S. output, and will be a part of the largest solar factory, by capacity, in North America.

The company, currently headquarted in Tempe, Arizona, was founded in Toledo and has invested nearly 3 billion into Ohio, including a $175 million investment for retooling at the Perrysburg plant in 2017.The Perrysburg location is known as their innovation hub and includes a technology center on its campus.

While there is no official opening date set yet, the plant is expected to reach full capacity in late 2019.

To learn more about the plant and its impact on the community, visit here.