First Solar’s newest American factory is up and running in Acadiana. The company’s $1.1 billion plant in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, spans about 2.4 million square feet, roughly eleven times the footprint of the Superdome, and began production in 2025 ahead of its original schedule.
Project Scope
Once fully ramped, the facility adds 3.5 gigawatts of annual nameplate capacity, pushing First Solar’s U.S. manufacturing base to about 14 GW in 2026 and a planned 17.7 GW in 2027. The plant runs an AI-assisted production line for the company’s thin-film cadmium telluride modules, a chemistry that skips the polysilicon supply chain most competitors depend on. Headcount passed 700 during ramp-up and is expected to reach roughly 826 by year-end.
Why It Matters
Domestic solar manufacturing has scaled fast on the back of federal production incentives, and First Solar has been the clearest beneficiary. The Louisiana plant matters for where it landed as much as what it makes. Iberia Parish sits in a region better known for oil-field services than clean-energy hardware, and the factory brings a different kind of industrial payroll to Acadiana. The bigger question hanging over every panel maker now is policy durability: the economics that justified this build assume the manufacturing credits hold. First Solar’s bet is that demand from data centers and utility-scale developers runs deep enough to carry the plant regardless of how Washington moves next.
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Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | First Solar |
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| Status | Completed |
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| Funding Source | Private |
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