Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

First Solar breaks ground in Vietnam

First Solar has officially broken ground on its four-line PV module manufacturing plant in Dong Nam Industrial Park, 25 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.

First Solar's new plant in Vietnam will also house a recycling facility. Image: First Solar.

Commercial operations will commence in the second half of next year and around 600 associates will be employed. The plant will produce more than 250 megawatts (MW) of First Solar's thin film modules per year.

Plans are also in the works to install three MW of its own modules on the plant roof. The plant will also house a recycling facility where, like in First Solar's other recycling facilities, up to 90 percent of the module's semiconductor materials and glass, by weight, can be recovered and reused.

Up to 2,000 personnel will be involved in the construction of the factory that will use the company's continuous manufacturing process which transforms glass into a complete solar module in less than 2.5 hours as the company states. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh was also present at the ceremony.