Manufacturing cost per watt at First Solar falls to US$0.76 cents: module faults hit earnings
Updated (3): Thin-film module manufacturing costs took a significant fall in the second quarter as First Solar continued to lead the PV industry in the lowest cost-per-watt race. The CdTe thin-film producer saw manufacturing cost decline 13% year over year, reaching US$0.76/watt in the second quarter, another new industry record. Annual throughput per line was up 6% quarter over quarter to 59.0 MW. On a total capacity basis, the increase would push operating capacity from 2.1 to 2.2 GW by 2012. Conversion efficiencies, which had remained static for several quarters, actually inched higher to 11.2%, compared to 11.1% in preceding quarters. Quarterly net sales were reported as US$587.9 million, compared to first-quarter 2010 revenues of US$568.0 million.