First Solar building new plant in Malaysia

Phoenix, Ariz.-based First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) announced plans today to build a third solar module manufacturing plant in Malaysia.

The company, which already has two other plants under construction in Malaysia, said the new 120 megawatt plant would be ready to start production in the first half of 2009.

First Solar operates manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Germany with total annual nameplate production capacity of 210 MW. The two Malaysian plants currently under construction will have total annual nameplate capacity of 240 MW.

The third Malaysian plant, which will cost the company $150 million to build, will bring the company's total annual capacity to 570 MW upon completion of all the projects by the end of 2009.

The new plant will be sited adjacent to the two other Malaysian facilities.

"Our customers have demonstrated that they are among the best positioned in the industry to develop meaningful project pipelines for large ground and roof-mounted projects across the EU," said Mike Ahearn, CEO of First Solar.

"We are pleased to build this additional production capacity to support their continued expansion and to strengthen our business relationships with these excellent companies, while further diversifying our European customer base with the recent addition of ASSYCE in Spain."

First Solar, which manufactures its solar modules with a thin film semiconductor process, said it recently signed contracts and contract extensions for 625 MW worth of products with its customers, which include Blitzstrom, Conergy, Gehrlicher Umweltschonende Energiesysteme, Phoenix Solar, Reinecke + Pohl Sun Energy, and ASSYCE Fotovoltaica.