A leading manufacturer of solar panels is expanding its reach to the Gulf Coast states, with the first facility to open in Alabama. According to PV Tech, First Solar is opening a 3.5 gigawatt solar facility in Lawrence County, the result of a $1.1 billion investment. This is the company’s fourth facility in the U.S., with the three other facilities in Ohio. Once all four are operational, it will have an “annual nameplate global capacity [that] will exceed 21GW.”