Largest US solar panel manufacturer shows innovation
Cleveland Fed president and chief executive officer Beth M. Hammack learned more about the manufacturing and design process for solar panels at First Solar in Perrysburg, Ohio, near the “Glass City” of Toledo, Ohio.
Toledo’s metropolitan area, the hub of Northwest Ohio’s economy, has one of the highest concentrations of manufacturing workers in the Fourth District, with nearly 16 percent of the population employed in this type of work in 2023.1
Cleveland Fed president and chief executive officer Beth M. Hammack met some of those workers while touring First Solar’s factory in Perrysburg during a recent visit.
Cleveland Fed president Beth M. Hammack talks with First Solar’s Mike Koralewski about the company’s solar panel manufacturing process (March 24, 2025)
First Solar is the nation’s largest domestic solar manufacturer and operates three factories and a research and development center at its Northwest Ohio campus. First Solar said that its campus is believed to be the largest of its kind outside of China. According to a 2024 study commissioned by First Solar, the company is expected to support more than 30,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs across the country in 2026, representing approximately $2.8 billion in labor income.
According to First Solar’s chief supply chain officer, Mike Koralewski, the company sources most of its product components domestically in part to protect its supply chains. He explained that one of the reasons why First Solar started in the Toledo area in 1999 was the city’s history as the “Glass City.” He also explained the company’s process of transforming glass into a solar panel, saying that it takes about four and a half hours to complete.
Hammack talks with Koralewski on the floor of the company’s Perrysburg facility (March 24, 2025)
During a conversation about the opportunities and challenges that the company faces, Koralewski told Hammack that despite the great manufacturing talent in the region and the company’s partnerships with schools in the area, the labor market is tight, and finding skilled workers is an ongoing challenge.
First Solar has continued to expand its capacity in recent years to meet US demand for power generation, with new investments in Ohio and the American Southeast.
About President Beth M. Hammack’s Around the District tour
President Hammack is visiting communities across the Fourth District as part of her Around the District tour to meet and connect with the people who live and work in all corners of the region and to gain a better understanding of how the economy is working in different communities. The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Hammack will use this information to inform her policy views and better represent the Fourth District around the Federal Open Market Committee table.
Footnotes
- Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek, Daniel Backman, Grace Cooper, Julia A. Rivera Drew, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rodgers, Jonathan Schroeder, and Kari C.W. Williams. IPUMS USA: Version 16.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2025. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V16.0. Return to 1
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Beth M. Hammack
Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System.
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