First Solar Inc

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FIRST SOLAR INC

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

First Solar manufactures solar modules with an advanced semiconductor technology. The company also designs, constructs, and sells photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems. The company primarily operates in the US, Europe and Asia. It is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona and employs around 6,100 people.

The company recorded revenues of $2,563.5 million in the fiscal year ended December 2010, an increase of 24.1% over 2009. The company's operating profit was $748.9 million in fiscal 2010, an increase of 10.2% over 2009. Its net profit was $664.2 million in fiscal 2010, an increase of 3.8% over 2009.

2010 was a year of significant progress for First Solar, setting the stage for future growth and value creation. Company executed well on its cost reduction and technology road maps, began to implement significant manufacturing capacity expansions, diversified its end-market exposure, bolstered its utility scale systems business, and delivered solid financial results. By the end of the year, company had reached over 3 gigawatts (GW) of cumulative production, enough electricity to power approximately 900,000 average homes. All of these accomplishments advance its mission of enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.

Company retained cost leadership position and continued to minimize the cost of generating photovoltaic (PV) electricity. Company's goal is to reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) to parity with gas combined cycle peak generation assets, enabling prices of $0.10-0.12 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in regions with high solar resource, like the South-western United States. During 2010, company made significant progress reduce costs in four areas: module, balance of system (BoS), project development, and financing.

During 2010, company was capacity constrained and re-allocated significant volumes of modules from its systems business to support its customers in Europe. First Solar announced and began construction on several expansions to address this constraint and to enable its future growth, including new factories in Malaysia (8 lines), Germany (4 lines), Vietnam (initial capacity 4 lines), and the United States (initial capacity 4 lines). Company plan to almost double its current capacity to 2.9GW, at Q4 2010 throughput rates, by the end of 2012.

Company cultivated new markets for solar power and expanded their own utility-scale systems pipeline. The global solar market grew over 100 percent in 2010 to almost 16GW, according to analyst estimates. While Germany remained an important market, Italy, France, and North America grew as a percentage of its revenues. Company took another important step toward ...
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