First Solar Opens First Phase of $330 Million South Carolina Plant

• First Solar opened the first phase of its approximately $330 million facility in Gaffney, South Carolina, on Oct. 28.
• The plant finishes Series 6 Plus thin-film modules started at overseas factories; about 500 of nearly 700 planned jobs are filled.
• A second phase due by mid-2027 should double capacity to 3.4 GW and add CuRe module production.

First Solar Inc. opened the first phase of its plant in Gaffney, South Carolina, on Oct. 28, less than a year after picking the site. The approximately $330 million facility handles the final production steps for Series 6 Plus thin-film modules begun at the company's overseas factories.

A second phase, forecast for completion by mid-2027, is expected to double the plant's annual nameplate capacity to 3.4 GW, First Solar said in a statement. That phase will also make modules with the company's CuRe technology. Gaffney should then support nearly 700 jobs. About 500 are already filled.

The plan has changed since November 2025, when First Solar chose Gaffney for a 3.7-GW facility with more than 600 jobs. Its forecast for total US module capacity in 2027 also slipped, to about 17 GW from 17.7 GW. The US had roughly 66 GWdc of module capacity after the second quarter, with only about 1 GWdc added in that quarter, according to SEIA and Wood Mackenzie.

The Gaffney plant in numbers

• 3.4 GW of annual nameplate capacity once phase two is done, down from 3.7 GW in the November 2025 plan.
• About $97 million per GW of final capacity, or roughly 9.7 cents per watt (list.solar calculation).
• About 206 jobs per GW at full staffing of nearly 700 (list.solar calculation).
• 20% of First Solar's forecast 17 GW of US module capacity in 2027 will be in Gaffney (list.solar calculation).
• About 5%: Gaffney's 3.4 GW against the 66-GWdc US module base counted by SEIA and Wood Mackenzie (list.solar calculation).
• Over $5 billion invested in US manufacturing and R&D in 2019-2026, the company expects.

Gaffney is First Solar's sixth US facility, joining its factories in Ohio, Alabama and Louisiana. The company, one of the world's largest solar panel makers, already runs a distribution center in Duncan, South Carolina. It credited demand created by the Trump administration's trade policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025.

"Every module that leaves this facility is made without dependence on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains," Chief Executive Officer Mark Widmar said.

First Solar reports third-quarter results after the market closes on Oct. 29. The second Gaffney phase is due by mid-2027.