First Solar comes to light again

The news has been released by Tran Viet Ha, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Industrial and Export Processing Zones Management Authority (Hepza)’s Investment Department.

Ha said that the new investor may put forward at least $500 million to the project. However, the name of the new investor has yet to be disclosed.

According to Ha, the new investor has attended numerous working sessions with Hepza representatives to study the legal procedures and the factory, as well as negotiate items in the investment plan. The Hepza plans to grant a new investment certificate for the investor in the first half of this year.

However, the investor has yet to finalise the date to implement the project, due to the long delay in construction of Highway 8, which links Highway 22 with Dong Nam industrial zone, hampering the implementation of First Solar project.

“The new investor is interested in Highway 8’s construction progress, and aims to finalise a specific plan for First Solar. If the project is licensed this year, it will contribute to the attraction of foreign investment capital to the city,” Ha stated.

In January 2011, Hepza granted an investment certificate to First Solar Vietnam Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of US-based First Solar Technology Group, to develop a factory producing thin-film solar power panels and semi-finished products.

The 44.2-hectare factory has the total investment capital of $1.2 billion, with a designed capacity of up to 1,080MW per year. The operational time of the whole project is 50 years.

The first phase’s construction was kicked off in March 2011 and is expected to complete within 19 months. However, the construction of the project was suspended after a mere eight months due to the supply-demand imbalance in the world solar market. While suspended, the investor completed the construction of the 113,000-square metre manufacturing facility, including 107,000sq.m of industrial space divided into two production areas, a large logistics area, and 6,000sq.m of external office buildings.

In July 2012, First Solar Group announced plans to sell its factory and leave Vietnam. In February 2012, the American company completed the evaluation and approved a set of initiatives on increasing manufacturing capacity, among others, primarily intended to adjust its previously planned expansions and global manufacturing footprint.

Tymen De Jong, senior vice president of manufacturing for First Solar, said that due to the supply-demand imbalance in the world solar market, regrettably, the First Solar plant would need to be postponed until the market demand recovered for additional capacity.

See more information on VIR print to be published on April 25