Responsible Solar: First Solar Leads Industry with Validated Environmental and Social Performance and Transparent Reporting

Business Wire 9-Sep-2024 9:00 AM

• Series 6 Plus and Series 7 TR1 are world's first EPEAT Climate+ ultra low-carbon modules
• World's largest high-value solar recycler achieves 95% global average material recovery rate
• Top rated solar manufacturer in 2023 Renewable Energy Human Rights Benchmark report

According to its 2024 Sustainability Report, which was released today, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) has established new industry benchmarks including verifiable leadership in ultra low-carbon solar technology, high-value recycling, respect for human rights, and transparent reporting. Headquartered in the United States, First Solar is the largest solar manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere and the world's largest high-value solar panel recycler.

"As we celebrate 25 years of First Solar in 2024, we also celebrate 25 years of an unwavering commitment to the principles of Responsible Solar, which embodies sustainability, improves people's lives, has zero tolerance for human rights abuses, and meaningfully supports the fight against climate change," said Mark Widmar, chief executive officer of First Solar. "The results of building our company on a principled foundation are apparent from our verifiable leadership in environmental and social performance and reporting. The third-party validated benchmarks that confirm our leadership are essential to further differentiate ourselves from the competition while challenging the industry to do better."

First Solar's advanced, highly differentiated manufacturing process allows it to transform a sheet of glass into ready-to-ship thin film solar panels in approximately four hours. Its uniquely American cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor leads the industry in environmental performance and competitiveness, allowing the company to produce solar panels with a carbon footprint up to four-times lower than those utilizing crystalline silicon cells made from Chinese polysilicon, even if assembled into panels in the United States. The technology's leadership was recently validated when First Solar's Series 6 Plus and Series 7 TR1 became the world's first solar panels to achieve an EPEAT Climate+ designation by meeting the ultra-low-carbon threshold of =400 kg CO2e/kWp, enabling greater avoided emissions across their lifetime.

"As the Clean Energy Buyers Institute warned, if the solar manufacturing industry continues its business-as-usual approach by relying on cheap, subsidized coal electricity to produce polysilicon, it runs the risk of overtaking aluminum production in carbon intensity," said Pat Buehler, chief product officer, First Solar. "We must act now to change course by actively reducing the carbon footprint of solar technologies while also investing in high-value recycling that addresses the end-of-life management of decommissioned solar panels in a sustainable manner. Our industry must embody sustainability, not simply pay lip service to it."

First Solar operates high value recycling facilities in the US, Germany, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam, representing 88,000 metric tons of nameplate annual recycling capacity at the end of 2023, capable of recycling approximately 2.6 million modules per year. The company established the industry's first global recycling program in 2005 and has recycled nearly 400,000 metric tons of PV modules to date, more than any other PV recycler or PV recycling program. In 2023, First Solar's high value module recycling program recorded an average global material recovery rate of 95%, including glass, aluminum, steel, laminate, and semiconductor material.

"We continue to reinforce that our industry's work in driving the energy transition and fighting climate change does not serve as a credit against its social and human rights responsibilities," said Samantha Sloan, vice president of Global Policy, Sustainability, and Marketing, First Solar. "And we lead by example, operating one of the world's most tightly controlled and traceable solar supply chains and the industry's only manufacturing footprint to have completed social audits by a credible third party. We are proud of our uncompromising commitment to human rights and challenge others in the industry to join us on this journey."

First Solar remains the only major solar manufacturer to have not just conducted independent third-party, on-site social audits across its global manufacturing footprint in 2023, but also to have achieved the highest possible rating. The audits conducted under the Responsible Business Alliance's (RBA) Validated Assessment Program (VAP) awarded the company's operational facilities in the US, Vietnam, and Malaysia with platinum status as of December 2023. Not reliant on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains, First Solar does not source materials from Xinjiang, China.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre commented in its 2023 Renewable Energy Human Rights Benchmark report that the solar panel manufacturing industry lags "significantly on human rights commitments and practices." However, it also highlighted First Solar as being one of only two companies of the six evaluated major solar manufacturers to have a strong human rights commitment in place. First Solar outperformed the other five companies assessed in the Benchmark report.

Since the start of this decade, First Solar has embarked on a $4.1 billion manufacturing expansion strategy that has seen it grow from approximately 6 GW operational in 2020 to over 16 GW global nameplate capacity at the end of 2023. The company currently operates manufacturing facilities in the US, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Two factories, one in Alabama, which is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2024, and the other in Louisiana, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2025, are projected to take the company's global footprint to over 25 GW of annual nameplate capacity in 2026. Additionally, the company is investing approximately half a billion dollars in research and development infrastructure in Ohio, including the Jim Nolan Center for Solar Innovation, which was commissioned earlier this year.

About First Solar, Inc.

First Solar is a leading American solar technology company and global provider of responsibly produced eco-efficient solar modules advancing the fight against climate change. Developed at R&D labs in California and Ohio, the company's advanced thin film PV modules represent the next generation of solar technologies, providing a competitive, high-performance, lower-carbon alternative to conventional crystalline silicon PV modules. From raw material sourcing and manufacturing through end-of-life module recycling, First Solar's approach to technology embodies sustainability and a responsibility towards people and the planet. For more information, please visit www.firstsolar.com.

For First Solar Investors

This press release contains various "forward-looking statements" which are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning First Solar's expectations that i) the company will have over 25 GW of annual global nameplate capacity in 2026; and ii) the company will commission its new manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Louisiana in the second half of 2024 and 2025, respectively. These forward-looking statements are often characterized by the use of words such as "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "seek," "believe," "forecast," "foresee," "likely," "may," "should," "goal," "target," "might," "will," "could," "predict," "continue" and the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are only predictions based on First Solar's current expectations and First Solar's projections about future events and therefore speak only as of the date of this release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. First Solar undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause First Solar's actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the matters discussed under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as supplemented by our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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