First Solar is a US company that has developed, financed, constructed, engineered, and currently operates many of the world’s largest, cost-effective grid-connected PV (photovoltaic) power plants, says its website. It has announced a $684 million investment in Tamil Nadu for a solar PV thin-film module manufacturing facility that will support 1,000 jobs, with 60% of them women.
This announcement was made in the fourth annual meeting of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF), a US initiative that was co-hosted for the first time in South Asia. The conference, which has been held online at this time, supports the United States’ vision of an open, interconnected, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific region. Attended by 2300 business and government leaders, the meeting is an annual US government-sponsored event for commercial diplomacy.
The event witnessed participation from Indian companies as well including Bharti Airtel, the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tata Steel, the State Bank of India, Wipro, and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
The announcement by First Solar formalized an investment that the business had hinted at for months. According to the state department, it will build a new vertically integrated solar module production plant for photovoltaic films. The plans would be operational from 2023.
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Several other investments were announced at the event such as US company Bentley Systems investing $1 billion in acquiring partnering with New Zealand-based Seequent, a global leader in 3D modelling software; Amazon spending $5.25 billion in creating a Cloud Region in New Zealand; DFC to partner with a Nepalese company to raise $75 million funds for small and medium businesses.
The state department said that as the world recovers from the pandemic, world’s largest economy, and most generous humanitarian assistance donor, the United States is leading the way in that recovery effort, both at home and abroad.
