Tackling the Energy-Water Nexus: One First Solar Module at a Time

In our article for World Overshoot Day, #MoveTheDate: Day-by-Day, we discussed the important role solar photovoltaics (PV) play in decoupling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity generation and consumption. Just as it is linked to GHG emissions, energy is closely intertwined with water and accounts for 10-15% of global water withdrawals. In regions such as North America and Europe, energy can account for 40-50% of total water withdrawals. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, thermal electric power plants represent the single largest source of water withdrawals in the U.S., withdrawing 133 billion gallons (or 503 billion liters) of water per day. By generating clean electricity with no emissions or water use, solar PV helps to decouple electricity generation from water withdrawals and from greenhouse gas emissions.

However, not all PV technologies are created equal. Our advanced thin film modules are manufactured using less energy, water and semiconductor material than conventional crystalline silicon. In less than 4.5 hours, a sheet of glass is transformed into a complete PV module — all under one roof. Due to our resource-efficient manufacturing process, First Solar modules have a carbon footprint that is up to 6 times lower, a water footprint that is up to 24 times lower and an energy payback time that is up to 4 times faster than conventional crystalline silicon solar panels on a life cycle basis. 

First Solar PV solutions enable our customers to decouple their business growth from environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity generation and consumption. 25GW of First Solar modules are generating enough electricity to displace over 17 million metric tons of CO2e per year, power more than 12 million average homes and save 45 billion liters of water (or 18,000 Olympic swimming pools) per year during their 25+ product life, based on worldwide averages. As part of their goal to become carbon negative by 2030 and advance the efficiency and sustainability of their cloud services, Microsoft is partnering with First Solar to power their datacenter region in Arizona with the lowest carbon and water footprint PV technology available on the market. By displacing conventional grid electricity, First Solar’s Sun Streams 2 Project is expected to save 356 million liters of water annually.

In addition to manufacturing PV modules with the lowest environmental impact in the industry, First Solar is committed to reducing the company’s operational impact. Since 2009, we’ve successfully reduced our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy, water, waste, and GHG emissions intensity per watt produced by implementing resource conservation and low carbon projects at our facilities and through improvements in module efficiency, manufacturing throughput and capacity utilization. By transitioning to our Series 6 technology, we achieved significant improvements in the resource intensity of our manufacturing operations and successfully reduced our manufacturing water intensity by 46% compared to 2018. 

Since 2018, all routinely operated First Solar recycling facilities in the U.S., Germany, Malaysia and Vietnam generate zero wastewater discharge under normal operations. Instead, the wastewater is recycled and converted into freshwater, which can then be reused in the recycling process. By recycling rejected water from our purification system back into our raw water tank in Malaysia, we saved over 270 million liters of water in 2019. In total, we saved approximately 300 million liters of water in 2019, equivalent to approximately 8% of our absolute water use.

As part of our vision to lead the world’s sustainable energy future, First Solar is making the most of every day to provide an ecologically leading solution to climate change, water scarcity and the unsustainable consumption of natural resources.