Thedealwith Zhenfa will give First Solar a landing opportunity in China, which the company tried to tackle when it signed agreements in 2009 for a 2-gigawtt plan in Inner Mongolia.
The larger your energy network, the better you can dealwiththe fundamental problems of cyclical power like solar and intermittent sources like wind, by pooling available energy and getting it to the users when needed.
First Solar brought back Mike Ahearn as an interim chief executive last October after the company had struggled, along with just about every other solar equipment manufacturer worldwide, to dealwith a market marked by a glut of solar panels and plummeting solar panel prices.