written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . december 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message first solar inc. type public company nasdaq fslr s & p 500 component founded 1999 as first solar holdings llc headquarters tempe arizona u.s. key people michael j. ahearn chairman of supervisory board mark widmar ceo revenue us 3.39 billion fy 2014 1 operating income us 424.16 million fy 2014 1 net income us 396.91 million fy 2014 1 total assets us 6.72 billion fy 2014 1 total equity us 5.02 billion fy 2014 1 number of employees 5 600 2012 1 website www.firstsolar.com first solar inc. is an american photovoltaic pv manufacturer of rigid thin film modules or solar panels and a provider of utility scale pv power plants and supporting services that include finance construction maintenance and end of life panel recycling . first solar uses cadmium telluride cdte as a semiconductor to produce cdte panels that are competing successfully with conventional crystalline silicon technology . 2 in 2009 first solar became the first solar panel manufacturing company to lower its manufacturing cost to 1 per watt 3 and produced cdte panels with an efficiency of about 14 percent at a reported cost of 59 cents per watt in 2013 . 4 the company was founded in 1990 by inventor harold mcmaster as solar cells inc. and the florida corporation in 1993 with jd polk . in 1999 it was purchased by true north partners llc who rebranded it as first solar inc. the company went public in 2006 trading on the nasdaq . its current chief executive is mark widmar who succeeded the previous ceo james hughes july 1 2016 . 5 first solar is based in tempe arizona . as of 2010 first solar was considered the second largest maker of pv modules worldwide 6 and ranked sixth in fast company s list of the world s 50 most innovative companies . 7 in 2011 it ranked first on forbes s list of america s 25 fastest growing technology companies . 8 it is listed on the photovoltaik global 30 index since the beginning of this stock index in 2009 . the company was also listed as no. 1 in solar power world magazine s 2012 and 2013 rankings of solar contractors . 9 contents 1 technology 2 corporate history 3 market history 3.1 production history 4 market performance 5 grid parity 6 installations 6.1 north america 6.2 europe middle east and north africa 6.3 asia and australia 7 see also 8 references 9 external links technology edit first solar manufactures cadmium telluride cdte based photovoltaic pv modules which produce electricity with a thin cdte film on glass . 10 first solar created a world record breaking cell with 21.5 % efficiency in the laboratory confirmed by nrel 11 in january 2015 and a world record breaking thin film pv module with 18.6 % efficiency confirmed by nrel 12 in june 2015 . corporate history edit in 1984 inventor and entrepreneur harold mcmaster founded glasstech solar . mcmaster foresaw the opportunity to manufacture low cost thin film cells on a large scale . after trying amorphous silicon he shifted to cdte at the urging of jim nolan and founded solar cells inc. sci in 1990 13 and the florida corporation in 1993 with jd polk . in february 1999 mcmaster sold the company to true north partners an investment arm of the walton family owners of wal mart . 14 john t. walton joined the board of the new company and michael j. ahearn of true north became the ceo of the newly minted first solar . in its early years first solar module efficiencies were modest about 7 percent . first solar launched production of commercial products in 2002 and reached an annual production of 25 megawatts mw in 2005 . 15 at the end of 2009 first solar had surpassed an annual production rate of one gigawatt gw 16 and was the largest pv module manufacturer in the world . 17 the company is headquartered in tempe arizona and has manufacturing facilities in perrysburg ohio and kulim malaysia . 18 additionally first solar partnered with natural gas provider enbridge to build the largest pv solar energy farm in the world 19 located in sarnia ontario near the canada us border . in july 2010 first solar formed a utility systems business group to address the large scale pv systems solutions market . utility systems are now the company s core business focus with a strategy to focus on markets that do not require subsidies to support the solar generation business . 20 on april 17 2012 first solar announced it would restructure operations worldwide . this restructuring process included phasing out operations in frankfurt oder germany and idling four production lines in kulim malaysia . 21 30 % of first solar s workforce was laid off as a result of these actions which were blamed on market volatility and reduced demand . 22 mark widmar the cfo of first solar said we need to resize our business to a level of demand that is highly reliable and predictable . 23 on july 1 2016 mark widmar was appointed ceo of first solar . previously he had been chief financial officer . company founder and former ceo mike ahearn remains chairman of the board . 5 market history edit historically first solar sold its products to solar project developers system integrators and independent power producers . early sales were primarily in germany because of strong incentives for solar enacted in the german renewable energy sources act eeg of 2000 cp . solar power in germany . citation needed declines and uncertainty in feed in tariff subsidies for solar power in european markets including germany france italy and spain 24 prompted major pv manufacturers such as first solar to accelerate their expansion into other markets including the u.s. india and china . 25 beginning in december 2011 first solar has shifted away from existing markets that are heavily dependent on government subsidies and toward providing utility scale pv systems in sustainable markets with immediate need . 26 as a result it now competes against conventional power generators 27 and has reduced its focus on the rooftop market . 20 on february 24 2009 first solar s cost per watt broke the 1 barrier reaching 0.98 . production cost has continued to fall and in february 2013 reached 0.68 per watt . 1 production history edit in 2011 the company had 36 production lines with 2 376 megawatts of annual manufacturing capacity . each line had a 66 megawatt capacity . the first factory was built in ohio followed by a four line manufacturing plant in frankfurt oder germany . in april 2007 the firm announced the construction of a plant in kulim hi tech park malaysia which was expanded to six plants in 2010 . in october 2008 the firm began an expansion of its facility in perrysburg ohio completed in 2010 28 which brought first solar s global annual production capacity to 1 228 mw . in the summer of 2009 the company announced plans to build its fourth production plant in france . in october 2010 first solar announced it would build two new four line manufacturing plants one each in vietnam and the united states . in november 2011 it postponed commissioning the vietnam plant . 29 in february 2012 it postponed commissioning of a new u.s. plant in mesa az until demand develops . in may 2012 four lines in malaysia were shut down indefinitely and plans to shutter the facility in germany were announced . country 2005 capacity 2006 capacity 2007 capacity 2008 capacity 2009 capacity 2010 capacity 2011 capacity 2012 capacity 2015 capacity line capacity 25 mw 33 mw 44 mw 48 mw 53 mw 62.6 mw 66 mw 70 mw est usa 25 mw 100 mw 132 mw 143 mw 160 mw 250 mw 264 mw 280 mw germany 176 mw 191 mw 214 mw 250 mw 528 mw 220 mw est malaysia 382 mw 854 mw 1002 mw 1584 mw 1400 mw total capacity 25 mw 100 mw 308 mw 716 mw 1228 mw 1502 mw 2376 mw 1900 mw 2700 mw 30 source first solar financial report for quarter 1 2012 earnings call ; first solar to boost production as profit sales climb wall street journal august 1 2012 first solar increased its estimate for 2012 production to between 1 800 and 1 900 mws in its financial report for quarter 2 . 31 market performance edit while first solar witnessed record sales of over 3.37 billion in 2012 its restructuring efforts impacted the bottom line leading to a net loss of 96.3 million or 1.11 per share for the year . 32 historically the low cost of first solar s modules has been the key to its market performance . the use of cadmium telluride instead of silicon allowed it to achieve a significantly lower module cost 0.67 per watt 33 compared to crystalline silicon pv which averaged 1.85 per watt in 2010 . 34 as the company shifts its focus away from module sales to utility scale projects it will need to become price competitive with non solar power sources a move which its executives say will require the company to reduce manufacturing costs and optimize efficiency . 35 grid parity edit main article grid parity in november 2012 first solar announced that its manufacturing cost had fallen to 67 cents per watt a 6 cent decrease from february 2012 . 36 by 2015 it expects to drive down cost per watt to make solar modules to between 52 and 54 cents . the biggest driver of the lower costs is better efficiency . 35 in a december 2012 reneweconomy interview with first solar ceo james hughes 37 he made the following comments regarding grid parity everyone wants to talk about grid parity i ve banned that phrase from the lexicon of first solar . electricity has value only at a point in time and a geographic place . there is no magic number that describes the true economic cost of electricity . you may have a tariff structure that describes it that way but that is not the reality and frankly sophisticated power markets don t operate like that . so you have to look at time of day season and location to determine the true cost of power and there are lots of times of day seasons and locations where solar is economic today without subsidy . so our focus is to find those places find those times of day and find those market structures where we can apply ourselves . installations edit first solar had installed 1 505 mw of solar capacity as of 2012 . 9 below are some of first solar s solar installations and development projects north america edit 290 mw agua caliente solar project in yuma county az being constructed for nrg energy and midamerican renewables . 38 550 mw topaz solar farm in san luis obispo county ca under construction and acquired by midamerican energy holdings . 39 550 mw desert sunlight solar farm in riverside county ca under construction and acquired by nextera energy and ge energy financial services . 40 230 mw av solar ranch one in los angeles ca under construction and acquired by exelon corp. 41 80 mw sarnia solar farm in ontario canada completed owned by enbridge . 42 50 mw silver state north in boulder county nv completed acquired by enbridge . 43 europe middle east and north africa edit mohammed bin rashid al maktoum solar park in seih al dahal uae includes a 13 mwdc solar power plant built by first solar for the dubai electricity & water authority