First Solar Jumps On $850 Million Partnership With Apple - $848 million will be Invested in First Solar’s “California Flats Solar Project”

Shares of First Solar surged nearly 5% on the news and continued to rise in the after-hours trading session; Apple, too, saw its stock gain on the news, closing for a 1.9% gain and a market cap above $700 billion. 

After Apple CEO Tim Cook commented at Goldman Sach’s technology and internet conference that Apple would open up a solar farm south of San Francisco, First Solar released a statement confirming the news and detailing the terms of the partnership. Apple will invest $848 million in First Solar’s “California Flats Solar Project” in Monterey County, California; in return, Apple will receive electricity from 130 megawatts of the project. The companies have a 25-year power purchase agreement, which they said is the largest agreement in the industry that provides clean energy to a commercial end user.

“Apple is leading the way in addressing climate change by showing how large companies can serve their operations with 100 percent clean, renewable energy,” Joe Kishkill, First Solar’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Apple’s commitment was instrumental in making this project possible and will significantly increase the supply of solar power in California. Over time, the renewable energy from California Flats will provide cost savings over alternative sources of energy as well as substantially lower environmental impact.”

Construction on the project is expected to begin this year and to be completed by the end of 2016.