The company said that the acquisition complements its existing portfolio of utility-scale thin film photovoltaic solar projects. First Solar's existing projects are largely sited on public land, range to 550MW in size, and are mostly under contract with utilities. The EMG projects that First Solar is acquiring are sited largely on private land, range from 20MW to 150MW, and are not yet contracted with utilities.
Lisa Bodensteiner, vice president of business development (North America) at First Solar, said: "Acquiring the EMG development pipeline extends First Solar's leadership in the US utility market. It builds on our strategy to cultivate robust and predictable module demand in utility-scale applications."
First Solar and EMG have worked together since 2008 on the EMG projects, with First Solar providing engineering, procurement and construction services while EMG was responsible for land acquisition and permitting. Now First Solar will handle the development of these projects, including permitting.
First Solar recently completed development and construction of its first California utility-scale solar power plant, the 21MW AC Blythe project that was sold to NRG Energy and supplies electricity to Southern California Edison.
