First Solar Wins Deal To Supply 241 MW Modules In Australia

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) has won a contract from RCR Tomlinson Ltd to supply solar modules with a total capacity of 241 megawatt (MW).

Per the deal, this company will act as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for Australian renewable energy group, Edify Energy’s Daydream solar project, with a capacity of 180.7 MW and 60.2 MW Hayman solar project in Queensland, Australia.

In fact, First Solar’s delivery pipeline reaches to more than 500 MW in the next one year with the contract. This marks it as the leading module supplier for large-scale solar in Australia.

Details of the Projects

The aforementioned projects, located across two sites in the north of Collinsville, will employ an optimized technology solution, which includes single axis tracking technology from Array Technologies, Inc. It will also use over 2,026,565 First Solar Series 4 modules to generate about 531,000 megawatt-hours of sustainable energy, annually.

Notably, both the projects will be powered by First Solar’s advanced thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules as they are perfect match to the hot and humid environmental conditions of the Whitsunday Region, due to a superior temperature coefficient, and better shading and spectral response.

Once completed, these projects will jointly offer considerable environmental benefits, generating adequate sustainable energy to reduce 429,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, annually. They will power approximately 73,000 average homes of Queensland.

In the third quarter, construction on the projects is scheduled to begin and the modules will be delivered in the next quarter and in the first quarter of 2018.

What Lies Ahead for Solar

A recent release from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that large-scale solar projects in the U.S. will have the capacity to touch 32 gigawatts (GW) in 2018, up nearly 45.5% from 2016 levels of 22 GW. EIA also forecasts an increase in the small-scale solar capacity.

First Solar being a steady performer and is gaining further momentum with the increasing demand for solar energy in the U.S. and across the globe. Moreover, the company has been involved in the installation of more than 17 GW solar projects internationally.

The Road Ahead

Apart from increasing its footprints in domestic markets, First Solar also has solid presence in the Indian market. The country aims to add 100 GW of solar capacity to its system by 2022.

Meanwhile, First Solar’s modules have already helped to power 1.3GW of solar projects in the nation. It presently has an excess of 110 MW projects under development in India. Therefore, there is no doubt that the strong demand for solar products in India could make it one of the most lucrative markets for the company.

Already, the solar market in India is very competitive owing to the presence of Chinese solar companies like ReneSola (NYSE:SOL) , JA Solar Holdings (NASDAQ:JASO) and JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) , among others.

However, we believe First Solar’s continuous research and development activities to be the driving factors, aimed at improving the quality of its offering. It will help the company achieve a competitive edge over its peers in the solar industry space.

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