First Solar Receives Government Incentives for India Manufacturing Facility
First Solar Receives Government Incentives for India Manufacturing FacilityThe Indian government’s PLI program has provided financial incentives to First Solar’s manufacturing facility in India.
The Indian government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) program has provided financial incentives to First Solar Inc.’s manufacturing facility in India. First Solar was one of only three manufacturers chosen to get the entire suite of incentives available only to fully vertically integrated businesses.
The incentives are contingent on the facility fulfilling product efficiency and domestic value creation requirements, which will be assessed quarterly from the second quarter of 2026 to the end of 2031.
The PLI program aims to stimulate the development of high-efficiency solar modules in India and reduce India’s reliance on solar module imports from abroad. Manufacturers are chosen through a competitive bid process and get cash incentives for five years following the completion of their manufacturing facilities.
Such incentives are based, among other things, on the efficiency and temperature coefficient of the modules manufactured, the proportion of raw materials sourced from the domestic market, the extent to which the manufacturer’s operations are fully integrated within India, and the number of modules sold from such manufacturing operations.
First Solar’s new project in Tamil Nadu, which is slated to be operational in the second half of this year, will have an annual nameplate capacity of 3.4GW DC.
The facility, which will build the company’s Series 7 modules, was designed following the advanced manufacturing template established by First Solar’s newest factory in Ohio.
First Solar is unique among the world’s ten largest solar manufacturers in that it is the only one headquartered in the United States, does not use crystalline silicon (c-Si) semiconductors, and does not manufacture in China. It produces its thin-film PV modules using a fully integrated, continuous process under one roof and does not rely on Chinese c-Si supply chains.
The company’s eco-friendly module technology, which employs its unique cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor, has the lowest carbon and water footprints of any PV module currently on the market.
First Solar’s revolutionary thin-film PV modules are created sustainably and establish industry standards for quality, durability, dependability, design, and environmental performance.
It is the only one of the world’s ten largest solar manufacturers to be a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), the world’s largest industry coalition dedicated to supporting the rights and well-being of workers and communities throughout the global supply chain, and it has zero tolerance for forced labor in its manufacturing or supply chains. First Solar modules have the lowest carbon and water footprint of any commercially available PV module on the market today, and the company is the first PV producer to have their product listed in the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) global register for sustainable electronics.
First Solar is also expanding its US manufacturing footprint, which now stands at more than 5 GW of annual nameplate capacity with three operating factories in Ohio, to more than 10 GW by 2025 when it completes its new $1.1 billion factory in Alabama and a $185 million expansion of its existing capacity in Ohio. By 2025, the company expects to have more than 20 GW of annual worldwide nameplate manufacturing capacity.