Tempe, Ariz., January 14, 2010 — First Solar Inc. bought a portion of Edison Mission Group's solar project development pipeline. The utility-scale solar projects are located in California and the Southwest.

First Solar is a solar module manufacturer and a utility systems provider with an emphasis on the solar photovoltaic market.

The acquisition complements and diversifies First Solar's existing portfolio of utility-scale thin film photovoltaic solar projects.

First Solar's existing projects are largely sited on public land, range to 550 MW in size, and are mostly under contract with utilities. The EMG projects that First Solar is acquiring are sited largely on private land, range from 20 to 150 MW, and are not yet contracted with utilities.

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First Solar and EMG have worked together since 2008 on the EMG projects, with First Solar providing engineering, procurement and construction services while EMG was responsible for land acquisition and permitting. Now First Solar will handle all development for these projects, including permitting.

"First Solar is a good partner and the obvious purchaser of our interest in these projects which we have jointly developed," said Gerry Loughman, senior vice president of Development for EMG.

Anticipated module demand for EMG projects was included in advanced pipeline information provided to First Solar investors in December 2009. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

First Solar recently completed development and construction of its first California utility-scale solar power plant in December 2009, the 21MW AC Blythe project that was sold to NRG Energy and supplies electricity to Southern California Edison.