U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu has announced offers of conditional commitments for loan guarantees of approximately $4.5 billion to support three cadmium telluride (Cd-Te) thin-film PV solar generation facilities.
The DOE is offering a conditional commitment for a $680 million loan guarantee to support the 230 MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project, conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.88 billion in loans to support the 550 MW Desert Sunlight project, and conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.93 billion in loans to support the 550 MW Topaz Solar project.
First Solar Inc. is sponsoring all three projects and will provide its Cd-Te thin-film solar PV modules for the projects from a new manufacturing plant that has begun construction in Mesa, Ariz., as well as from its recently expanded manufacturing plant in Perrysburg, Ohio. The company expects that the projects will create a combined 1,400 jobs in California during peak construction.
