Set for completion in 2019, the project represents the world's biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date and is part of an 11.95 GW renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. When completed, the Ordos solar farm will generate enough electricity to power about 3 million Chinese homes, First Solar said.
First Solar is also likely to build a factory in China to make thin-film solar panels, said Mike Ahearn, the company's chief executive. "It is significant that a non-Chinese company can land something like this in China," Ahearn said.
Most proposed large-scale solar projects use solar thermal technology, which deploys mirrors to heat a liquid to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine. But as photovoltaic technology becomes more cost-competitive, utilities are turning to companies like First Solar for big solar power farms, as such projects generally have fewer environmental impacts and can be brought online faster than solar thermal plants.
"This is nuclear power-size scale," Ahearn said of the China project. "A 2 GW solar project, if this is connected and is economical at the grid level, demonstrates that solar on a large scale really does work."
Financial terms of the agreement have yet to be reached. First Solar expects the 2,000-megawatt power plant to cost $5 billion (€3.4 billion) to $6 billion (€4.1 billion), said Alan Bernheimer, a company spokesman. The Ordos agreement is the latest large-scale solar farm deal that First Solar has signed in recent months as it expands its business from manufacturing solar modules to building power plants. The company also has agreed to supply two California utilities with 1,100 MW of electricity from three big solar farms.
The Chinese agreement calls for ground to be broken on the first 30-MW phase of the project by June 2010.
For additional information:
