Apple Buys First Solar Arizona Manufacturing Facility

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apple buildingApple has reportedly purchased First Solar’s solar module manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, manufacturing facility. The factory reportedly never started producing any solar modules, and it is sheltered by the largest rooftop solar array in Arizona.

The thin-film solar market was hit pretty hard by the tremendous solar PV cost drop that occurred over the past few years. The First Solar factory was prepared for massive thin-film solar expansion, but this was apparently undercut by the solar PV revolution. First Solar, which seems to be selling the facility for $115 million, “announced in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it expected to take a $55-60 million hit on the module production line,” pv magazine writes.

It’s unclear what Apple will actually use the manufacturing facility for, but it made the purchase through a data server company that serves Apple.

“Apple has so far been coy on its plans but the Arizona Commerce Authority announced last week that the electronics mega corp would be coming to Arizona and creating 700 high quality jobs – as well as 1,300 construction posts – in Mesa as part of a planned new manufacturing facility.”

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Image Credit: Apple via Andrey Bayda / Shutterstock.com


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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