First Solar’s Wood County factories made northwest Ohio a solar manufacturing center
The company's plants near Perrysburg produce thin-film solar panels and employ thousands. Federal tax credits and trade rules shape their future.
Some of the largest solar panel factories in the Western Hemisphere are not in Arizona or California. They are in Wood County, about an hour northwest of Bellevue, where First Solar runs manufacturing plants near Perrysburg and in Lake Township.
Toledo roots
First Solar’s technology traces to Toledo inventors and Glasstech founder Harold McMaster, who worked on thin-film solar in the 1980s and 1990s. The company, now headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, kept and expanded its Ohio manufacturing as it grew. It makes panels using cadmium telluride, a thin-film technology different from the silicon panels that dominate imports. Company information is on firstsolar.com.
First Solar opened an additional Ohio factory in recent years, and it has also built plants in Alabama, Louisiana and abroad.
Jobs and suppliers
The Ohio plants employ thousands of people, from production workers to engineers, and buy glass, metal frames, packaging and services from regional suppliers. Wood County and nearby communities have benefited from the payroll and property taxes.
Policy matters
First Solar’s business depends heavily on federal policy. Manufacturing tax credits approved in 2022 rewarded domestic production, and tariffs on imported panels from Asia affect what its competitors charge. Changes to federal energy credits in 2025 raised questions for solar developers, though domestic manufacturing incentives were treated differently from credits for installing projects.
Solar farms themselves have become a local issue in rural Ohio. Several counties have used a 2021 state law, Senate Bill 52, to restrict large wind and solar projects in some townships. Proposed projects in Seneca and Huron counties have drawn both support from landowners who would lease land and opposition from neighbors concerned about farmland and views. Applications go to the Ohio Power Siting Board.
Bellevue connection
Solar leases are increasingly part of conversations among farm families around Bellevue. We cover farmland and energy in Farm & Rail and major employers in Business.