Project Overview

First Solar, which is based in Perrysburg Township on State Route 795, is building a new solar module manufacturing facility about 5 miles away from its existing plant. The new manufacturing facility will be a 1.2-gigawatt factory which will bring 500 new jobs in Northwest Ohio and will produce the company’s advanced technology Series 6 thin film photovoltaic module.  The New NSG Plant being constructed in Luckey, Ohio will supply glass panels with a TOC coating for the new series 6 panel.

The Wood County Port Authority used a ground lease agreement with a five-year term to provide sales tax savings on $60 million dollars’ worth of building materials to be purchased for the First Solar project.   Additional funding was obtained for the improvements to the Tracy Road and State Route 795 intersection. 

In May of 2016, The Lake Township Trustees approved a 15-year agreement for Tax abatement on the new plant.   Based upon how tax abatement agreements work, the grantee of the abatement contracts to pay to the Lake school district funds which would have otherwise been abated.  Thus, the Agreement will provide $898,000 to the Lake Township Local Schools over the next 15 years.  First Solar’s nearby facility could also mean academic opportunities for Lake students.  The Wood County Commissioners (Ted Bowlus, Craig LaHote and Doris Herringshaw) approved an Enterprise Agreement with First Solar to build the 1 million square foot plant in Lake Township that will employ 500 well-paying jobs.

Mike Koralewski, First Solar’s Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing noted that State and local officials and Jobs Ohio have also worked with First Solar to create a business-friendly environment that supported our objectives. These factors, combined with our own economies of scale in high tech manufacturing, make expanding U.S. operations an attractive, win-win opportunity.”    In 2017, the company invested $175 million into retooling the original Perrysburg plant for production of its new Series 6 product.   In early 2018, the facility re-started an idled Series 4 production line to meet continued demand for that product.    Since it began, Koralewski, further noted that First Solar has invested approximately $3 billion in Ohio, including wages paid, manufacturing purchases, research & development costs and taxes.  The Perrysburg plant is the largest solar manufacturing facility in the United States and works with more than 250 U.S. suppliers and indirectly supporting more than 4,000 jobs across Ohio.   He also indicated First Solar has options for potential further manufacturing expansion in the future, depending on sustained U.S. demand for advanced solar technology.

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