State aid: Commission endorses

Brussels, 28th April 2006 - The European Commission has authorised, under EC Treaty state aid rules, a €45.5 million aid which the German Government plans to provide to FIRST SOLAR Manufacturing GmbH (FSM) for the creation of a plant for the manufacture of solar modules in Frankfurt (Oder), region of Brandenburg. The total cost of the investment will amount to some €115 million. The Commission concluded that the aid was in line with the rules on regional investment aid and aid to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: “I am pleased to endorse the aid for this investment project after an investigation lasting only four months, thanks to the quality of the notification and excellent cooperation from the German authorities”.

FSM was founded in 2005 and is owned by First Solar Holdings LLC, a predominantly US group of companies. FSM will install a solar module manufacturing plant with a nominal capacity of 100 MWp in Frankfurt (Oder). The company’s objective is to transfer and adapt its know-how and production techniques to the plant in order to begin producing solar modules in Europe’s fast growing market. FSM will use an alternative process to manufacture its solar modules - thin film photovoltaic technology - which requires only small amounts of raw materials and consumes little energy.

The investment will contribute to the development of the region of Brandenburg, in particular through the creation of a significant number of new jobs, thereby helping to alleviate the serious problem of unemployment in the region.

On the basis of Article 87(3) of the EC Treaty, state aid granted to promote the economic development of certain disadvantaged areas within the European Union may be considered compatible with the Single Market. Moreover, the beneficiary is a medium-sized enterprise under the EC definition of SMEs and is entitled to receive higher amounts of aid than large firms.

The Commission considered the aid to be compatible with the rules on regional aid to large investment projects and with the rules on aid to SMEs.


For more information, please visit http://www.firstsolar.com or contact:

Germany:

Heiner Eichermüller
First Solar GmbH
Rheinstraße 4N
55116 Mainz

Tel: +49 (0) 6131/ 1443-100
Mobil: +49 162 4031524
Fax: +49 (0) 6131/ 1443-500
E-Mail: heichermueller@firstsolar.com>heichermueller@firstsolar.com


USA:
Paula Vaughnn
First Solar
T: 602 414 93 22
E-Mail: pvaughnn@firstsolar.com>pvaughnn@firstsolar.com

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