A Clear Advantage
First Solar uses American glass exclusively in its US-made solar panels, supporting thousands of jobs in an industry impacted by China’s state-subsidized domination of vital supply chains.
The glass used in First Solar’s panels starts as raw silica mined in Michigan and soda ash from Wyoming, before being transformed into high quality float glass with a Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO), by NSG in Luckey, Ohio.
The NSG facility in Luckey is one of three float glass lines located in Ohio and Illinois that currently supply First Solar, while a fourth, also located in Ohio, and a fifth located in Pennsylvania, will come online by 2025 to support the company’s growing manufacturing footprint.
By 2025, First Solar will consume the glass produced by five of the 34 operational float glass lines in the US, accounting for approximately 15% of the country’s annual float glass production.
Trona Mining, Wyoming
At the Tata Chemicals trona mine in southern Wyoming, miners work 1,500 feet underground to extract crystalline trona that’s refined into soda ash and used in forming new float glass.
"I run a bore crew, which means we are cutting new sections of the mine. We're mining trona. It goes in a lot of things - chemicals, windshields, salts, glass."
JD Fackrell | Production Foreman | Tata Chemicals Soda Ash Partners, Wyoming
"I've been here 26 years, I started out as a laboratory technician, and now I'm a superintendent. I look after the load out and surface utilities. I've got 33 guys working for me, running equipment doing plant cleanup, and operating the load-out facility where we load all the rail cars."
Jeri Christensen |
Loadout Superintendent
Silica Mining
In Michigan, U.S. Silica mines for high-quality, ultra-low iron silica sand, which is used to produce the glass that is used by First Solar to manufacture solar panels. First Solar’s growth is driving greater silica sand demand and adding jobs at the facility.
"I'm a Geologist. I'm the sixth-generation miner in my family. I grew up working the family mines.
Our people and our product are what make this operation special. We produce some of the cleanest sand there is in the U.S., and it's our people that allow us to do that.
We supply a lot of different customers, who make automobile glass, structural glass, glass for bottles and containers, all sorts. We are growing our volumes and adding shifts as a result of increased demand for our ultra-low iron silica sand."
Shane Spor | Plant Manager
U.S. Silica, Rockwood, MI
"I used to work at a steel plant not far from here pouring molten steel. I remember my first day here at U.S. Silica, looking out the back and I thought ‘Wow, that's beautiful.’ I'd never seen sand that white. Whenever I thought of sand, I thought of the brown sand you see at the beach; I thought they must make a pretty good product because it's so white!"
Mike Williams | Loadout Operator
U.S. Silica, Rockwood, MI
"In this job, I do so much of everything. No day is the same. I receive the parts, write purchase orders and pay all the bills. I'm good at being in the support role. I don't have to be in charge. I like being in the middle and having my chaos nice and organized.
I’m a single mother, and this job is just right. I'm stable. I have to leave early today to watch my son be awarded student of the month. He doesn't know, so I'm very excited."
Tobi Wallace | Maintenance Scheduler & Warehouse Coordinator | U.S. Silica, Rockwood, MI
Glass Manufacturing
Workers at the NSG Glass North America facility in Luckey, Ohio, use a tin float where 1000°C molten glass is poured continuously from a furnace onto a shallow bath of molten tin to produce float glass. Built to support First Solar’s growing footprint, the Luckey facility was NSG Group's first new float glass facility to be commissioned in the US in four decades. It is located about 12 miles from First Solar’s Ohio campus.
Mixology
A mix of raw materials, including approximately 20% sodium carbonate (soda ash), 60% silica, and 20% lime dolomite, is fed into a furnace to remove impurities before the molten glass is fed into a 'tin float kiln' to create flat sheet glass.
"I really like how intense the process is. That you can feel the heat.
The simplest way to describe what we do is that we bring in a bunch of fancy dirt, melt it with 36 giant blow torches, and I run the smokeless ash tray for it all. My focus is on emission control, the part of the process that neutralizes the flue gases, basically to remove the SO2 and nitrous oxide.
I'm a military veteran. I used the GI bill to get my bachelor's degree and used to run a construction business. My wife works for NSG as well, and I met a bunch of the people from the plant at a local baseball game."
Ryan O'Mara | Furnace process improver | NSG Group Sheet Glass Facility, Luckey, Ohio
"I worked at a hamburger factory for 15 years before here. Now I check the glass for defects and imperfections before we send it to First Solar."
Joni Sharma | Quality Technician
NSG Group Sheet Glass Facility, Luckey, Ohio