Construction for First Solar’s first utility-scale solar power plant in California, the 21-megawatt AC Blythe facility, had been completed last December.
First Solar, a solar module manufacturer and supplier of comprehensive photovoltaic system solutions, will be working on solar projects for the Edison International subsidiary Edison Mission Group [EMG]. A deviation from First Solar’s existing public land projects which are under contract with utilities, EMG projects are not yet contracted and implemented on private lands.
EMG is in charge of the power generation business as well as other unregulated subsidiaries of Edison International. Edison International is also the parent company of Southern California Edison.
Situated in California and South-western United States, the acquisition projects are from 20 megawatts to 150 megawatts.
First Solar vice president of business development for North America says the acquisition of the EMG projects signify the company’s leadership in the U.S. utility market.
Based in Irvine California, EMG has operations which include owned or leased interests in 44 power generation facilities, which have a combined capacity of 11,413 megawatts. EMG owns 10,214 megawatts of the said electric capacity.
Among EMG’s power generation assets are fossil-fuel power plants in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Turkey; a New York biomass facility; and wind energy projects in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming. EMG’s subsidiaries include Edison Mission Energy (EME), an independent power producer engaged in the business of owning, leasing, operating and selling energy and capacity from electric power generation facilities; Midwest Generation (MWG), which operates six electric power generating plants in Illinois and supervises operation of the EME Homer City Generation plant in Homer City, Pennsylvania; and Edison Mission Operation & Maintenance, Inc. (EMOMI), which operates eight natural gas power plants in partnership with other companies in California and a waste coal plant in West Virginia. EMOMI also operates wind farms located in Iowa, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
First Solar has been supplying technical services to Edison International’s solar projects since 2008. Edison, on the other hand, has been in charge of the permitting and acquisition for First Solar.
It was also in December when First Solar manufactured and shipped more than 1 gigawatt of its solar modules in 2009, thereby achieving the distinction of being the first PV company to reach their massive production volume in just one year. First Solar initially only produced 75 megawatts per year.
The company’s recent achievement is the production of solar modules at $0.98 per watt, breaking the $1 per watt price range of the solar industry. First Solar aims to reduce costs further through advanced technology and manufacturing processes.
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