First Solar, Inc. today announced that it has acquired a 1.2 million square foot facility in Troy Township, Ohio. The facility, formerly known as Peloton Output Park, is expected to be repurposed into a new distribution center serving First Solar's Ohio manufacturing footprint, which comprises three manufacturing facilities with a combined annual nameplate capacity of approximately 6 gigawatts (GW) of capacity at the end of 2023.
"As we prepare to expand our Ohio capacity by almost a gigawatt this year, there's a need for our logistics and distribution capabilities to scale to match manufacturing growth," said Mike Koralewski, chief supply chain officer of First Solar. "We intend to use this facility to ensure the efficient and timely shipping of modules to our customers, repurposing it into a dedicated distribution hub for the largest solar manufacturing footprint in the Western Hemisphere. We expect that this approach will allow us to streamline logistics operations, while reducing operating costs and contributing to our cost reduction roadmap."
Koralewski added, "In the long term, the flexible space that the facility affords us could also serve as a light-scale satellite manufacturing location with the potential to support our factories and R&D center in Ohio."
In addition to expanding its Ohio footprint to over 7 GW of annual nameplate capacity this year, the solar technology and manufacturing company expects to invest over $2 billion in new manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Louisiana. First Solar expects to have 14 gigawatts of fully vertically integrated US solar manufacturing capacity by 2026. Additionally, First Solar is investing up to $370 million in a dedicated R&D innovation center in Perrysburg, Ohio, which is expected to be completed in 2024.
