First Solar, the US-headquartered solar module manufacturer, will use renewable energy to power its maiden cadmium telluride (CdTe) factory in India under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Cleantech Solar. The duo calls it one of the largest intra-state PPAs in India.
Its 3.3 GW vertically integrated facility in Tamil Nadu will be powered by 150 MW of solar PV and 16.8 MW of wind energy projects that Cleantech will construct within the state itself.
The 15-year PPA will come into effect once the projects are fully commissioned by Q3/2024. First Solar says the supply of around 7.3 GWh annually from these projects will cover up to 70% of the Indian factory's annual anticipated electricity requirements.
"By powering our operations with clean, renewably-generated electricity, we are working to further reduce our environmental footprint, which is already the lowest in the industry," said First Solar India's Vice President and Managing Director Sujoy Ghosh.
Touting the factory as the world's 1st net-zero water withdrawal solar manufacturing facility, First Solar says it will use only tertiary-treated reverse osmosis water from the city's sewage treatment plant. The Tamil Nadu fab will also house what it says will be India's 1st solar PV recycling plant.
For First Solar, this is also a module supply deal since Cleantech will purchase 150 MW of its Series 7 thin-film panels for the solar part of the PPA project. First Solar says it will deliver the modules in H1/2024. The company had been targeting commercial operations of the India fab by 2023-end, but there hasn't been any official announcement as yet.
This news of the module contract from First Solar for its India plant follows the company's maiden order for 600 MW DC Series 7 modules from Azure Power in September 2022 (see Azure Power To Source Modules From First Solar).