Hello, everyone, and welcome to First Solar's 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mark Widmar, Chief Executive Officer of First Solar Inc. Mr. Widmar, you may begin.
All right. Thank you. I'd like to welcome you to the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of First Solar. Today's virtual only meeting is a live webcast. We believe in engaging with our stockholders and hope that this virtual meeting will maximize the participation of stockholders regardless of their location. Thank you for taking the time to participate today. On behalf of the board, I also wish to express thanks to those stockholders who have submitted their proxies in advance. Participating with me today are Alex Bradley, Chief Financial Officer; Jason Dymbort, Chief General Counsel and Secretary; and John Russo, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. We're also joined by the following directors: Michael Sweeney, Bill Post, Paul Stebbins, Lisa Krow, Murthy Renduchintala . I call your attention to the rules of conduct set forth for this meeting. These are made available to each stockholder in the meeting center.
We ask participants to abide by these rules so we can conduct an orderly meeting. If you need a copy of the annual report or the proxy statement, these links are also available online in the meeting center. To access the links, click on the Documents folder at the top of the screen. Only registered stockholders are entitled to participate in the business of the meeting.
The business to be conducted at this meeting is as follows: to elect nine members of the board of directors to hold office until the next annual meeting of stockholders or until their respective successors have been elected and qualified, to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as First Solar's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for the year ending December 31, 2025, to approve an advisory resolution on the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers, and to vote on a stockholder's proposal to adopt a special shareholder meeting improvement. While we'll be soliciting your questions throughout the meeting, feel free to pose a question at any time. You may do so by clicking the Q&A button at the top of the screen.
In accordance with the bylaws of the company, as appointed by the Chairman of the company's board of directors, I will act as Chair of this meeting. In accordance with the bylaws of the company, Jason Dymbort, the General Counsel and Secretary of the company, will act as the Secretary of the meeting. Crystal Goldman of Computershare Trust Company, NA, the transfer agent for the company, has been appointed inspector of the election for this meeting. She has taken her oath, which will be filed with the records for this meeting. I now ask that Mr. Dymbort give the Secretary's report on the qualification of this meeting to proceed.
Thank you, Mark. The notice calling this meeting was mailed on April 4, 2025, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 20, 2025. The company has received an affidavit of mailing from the company's transfer agent as to its mailing. The affidavit of mailing is available for inspection by any stockholder and shall be retained with the records of this meeting. Since April 4, 2025, the proxy statement, the form of proxy, and the annual report have been available to stockholders on the company's website in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Notice and Access Rules. In addition, the proxies and the certified list of stockholders are in the custody of the inspector of election.
For more than 10 days prior to this meeting, the stockholders' list was available for inspection by stockholders during normal business hours at our corporate headquarters located at 350 West Washington Street, Suite 600, in Tempe, Arizona. Also, the company's audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, are provided online. Pursuant to the bylaws of the company, the holders of the majority in total voting power of the outstanding capital stock of the company entitled to vote at a meeting of the stockholders, present in person or represented by proxy, constitute a quorum for the company's annual meeting. Based on the inspector of election's preliminary report on attendance and proxy share count, I've been advised by the inspector of election that a quorum is present at this meeting.
When delivered, a copy of the inspector of election's report on attendance shall be retained with the records of this meeting. As notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with applicable law and there is a quorum present, all legal requirements for holding this meeting have been satisfied. Following the formal portion of this meeting, Mark and Alex will present an overview of the company's business and address questions that are submitted. Please note this presentation and the ensuing question and answer session may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. We encourage you to view the safe harbor statements contained in today's presentation for a more complete description.
Thank you, Jason. This meeting is lawfully convened and ready to transact business. The proxy statement that was made available to the stockholders in connection with the notice of this meeting sets forth the matters to be submitted to a vote of the stockholders. At this time, if you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so by clicking on the link provided above. Any stockholder who has already voted and does not want to change his or her vote need not take any further action. We now proceed to the matters to be voted on. The first item to vote on is the election of nine directors to hold office until the next annual meeting of stockholders when their respective successors have been elected and qualified. The proxy statement lists the director nominees, all of whom are currently serving as directors of the company.
Each nominee has consented to act as the director for the ensuing year. The director nominees as set forth in the proxy statement are Michael Ahern, Anita George, Lisa Krow, William Post, Murthy Renduchintala , Paul Stebbins, Michael Sweeney, Mark Widmar, and Norman Wright. Are there any comments or questions concerning the election of the directors? Okay. The next item of business is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as First Solar's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for the year ending December 31, 2025. At this time, John Russo, a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is in attendance and available to answer any appropriate questions and to make a statement if he wishes. John, do you wish to make a statement?
No, thank you, Mark.
I'll pause now to allow for any comments or questions concerning the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. The next item of business is the advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers. Are there any comments or questions concerning the advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers? Okay. The next item of business is a stockholder proposal submitted by Mr. John Chevedden requesting that the stockholders adopt a special shareholder meeting improvement. At this time, Mr. Chevedden is in attendance via telephone. I want to ask that he present the proposal. Operator, please enable Mr. Chevedden's telephone line.
Hello, this is John Chevedden. Proposal for a special shareholder meeting improvement. Sole ask our board of directors to remove the current provision that considers the voice of certain First Solar shareholders as non-shareholders. Currently, all shares not held for one continuous year are considered non-shareholders when they seek to call for a special shareholder meeting on an important business matter. The current one-year exclusion for all shares held for less than one continuous year makes the current so-called shareholder right to call for a special meeting next to useless. There's no point to have a useless right on the books of First Solar.
The reason to enable all shareholders to call for a special shareholder meeting is to allow one shareholder or a group of shareholders to quickly acquire more First Solar shares to equal the challenging 25% share ownership requirement of all shares outstanding to call for a special shareholder meeting when there is an urgent matter to consider in order to incentivize a turnaround of First Solar or adopt a new strategy. The best strategies for turning around a company do not necessarily come from a company's existing shareholders. If First Solar is in an emergency situation or needs to adopt a new strategy, no First Solar shareholder or potential First Solar shareholder will consider acquiring more shares in order to call for a special shareholder meeting if they have to sit on their shares for one year to call for a special shareholder meeting.
A one-year holding period makes no sense when a response to an emergency must be quick. There is no concern that enabling all shareholders to participate in calling for a special shareholder meeting makes it too easy. It is almost unheard of for any special shareholder meeting called for by shareholders to ever occur at any company, although a large number of companies enable all shareholders to participate in calling for a special shareholder meeting. The reason to have this right in place is that companies are more likely to engage productively with their shareholders because shareholders will have a more reasonable ability to call for a special shareholder meeting if engagement fails. Please vote yes, special shareholder meeting improvement proposal four.
Thank you, Mr. Chevedden. Are there any comments or questions regarding the shareholder proposal? Okay. I hereby declare the polls closed. The formal portion of this meeting is hereby concluded. The inspector of election will now tabulate the votes, during which time Alex and I will present an overview of the company's business and answer any questions you may have. We will report the results of the voting before the close of the meeting. Getting on slide 6, I'd like to reiterate the importance of our growth pillars as it relates to delivering shareholder value. Together, these pillars are a balanced business model, an optimized product, a repeatable and scalable manufacturing format, and a commitment to investing in differentiation power forward our growth journey, allowing us to meet demand while navigating volatility and uncertainty. Turning to slide 7 and begin with the graph on the left.
Forecast suggests that by 2029, the U.S. will require 128 GW of new capacity to meet the high summer peak demand. When evaluating deployment speed for a range of commercially viable power generation technologies, as illustrated on the right-hand side of the slide, it is essential to note that natural gas capacity could take up to five years to become operational. In addition, costs have doubled compared to five years ago, largely due to supply chain issues like turbine shortages. Large-scale nuclear power plants require over a decade for permitting, construction, and commissioning, while recommissioning, decommissioning nuclear plants is an option. Only three are anticipated to become economically viable by 2028. Although small modular reactors are generating significant excitement, they are not expected to reach commercial operation capacity at GW scale until 2035.
To prevent potential energy price-related inflation, maintain economic and innovation competitiveness, and secure energy independence, the country cannot afford to wait for several years to deploy new capacity. PV energy, even without subsidies, often has a levelized cost of energy that is competitive with many fossil fuel generation methods in numerous markets. Due to its low cost and rapid deployment compared to other energy sources, solar energy should obviously play a significant role in the near-term energy solution mix. Turning to slide 8, we would like to highlight our opportunity to develop and commercialize the next generation of solar technologies. By optimizing efficiency, energy, and cost, we believe the future of solar relies heavily on thin film technologies. Consequently, we have initiated a focused technology strategy built on three core pillars. The first pillar focuses on enhancing our core single junction CdTe semiconductor technology.
The second pillar involves advancing the next generation of thin film semiconductors for commercial-scale deployment. This research is centered on our perovskite technology, supported by our new dedicated development line in Ohio, which is expected to be fully operational by Q2 of this year. The third pillar concentrates on developing a next-generation tandem device that combines two semiconductors, which optimize the different range of the solar spectrum to create highly efficient modules. While tandems can utilize various PV semiconductors, we believe that at least one must be thin film and that the optimal solution will require both semiconductors to be thin films. In other words, in our view, there is no tandem without thin film. We believe this three-pillar framework allows us to compete in the near term with best-in-class crystalline silicon technology through the advancements in our CURE technology platform.
In the long term, our leadership and expertise in thin film technology and manufacturing position us well in the race to commercialize and scale a perovskite-based thin film semiconductor. Turning to slide 9, our approach to responsible solar is core to who we are as a company and further differentiates us from the competition. Our resource efficiency and vertically integrated manufacturing operations allow First Solar modules to achieve a higher energy return on energy invested compared to the more energy-intensive crystalline silicon modules, even those assembled locally with imported components. Under higher radiance conditions, First Solar Series 7 PV modules can generate more energy in just two months than was consumed in their manufacturing process. Over a 30-year project lifespan, this translates to a 180-fold energy return on investment, significantly enhancing the net energy contributions to the electricity grid.
The value of American solar extends to local communities where we are creating tens of thousands of enduring, good-paying middle-class jobs, with an American supply chain that spans Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming. Each of our U.S. factories employs upwards of 700 people, with an average manufacturing salary of $80,000 annually, and supports the employment of thousands of hardworking people across the country, including soda ash miners in Wyoming, silicon miners in Michigan, copper miners in Utah, steel workers in Alabama, Louisiana, and Ohio, glass workers in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, woodworkers in Indiana, and a nationwide network of truckers, railroad workers, and many more. We are committed to ensuring that today's energy solutions scale responsibly by providing global in-house PV module recycling services. This year marks 20 years of recycling at First Solar.
Our industry-leading high-value recycling process provides closed-loop semiconductor recovery for use in new modules and provides high-quality secondary resources such as glass, rubber, and aluminum products to bolster domestic supply chains. I will now hand the call over to Alex, who will discuss our 2024 and Q1 2025 financial performance.
Thanks, Mark. Turning to slide 11, I'd like to share some key highlights from 2024. From a commercial standpoint, we maintained a highly selective approach to contracting, securing net bookings of 4.4 GW for the full year. We also set a new sales record with 14.1 GW of volume sold in 2024. On the manufacturing front, we produced a total of 15.5 GW in 2024, consisting of 9.6 GW of Series 6 modules and 5.9 GW of Series 7 modules. We also made significant advancements in our technology roadmap by commissioning a new dedicated R&D innovation center in Ohio, which includes a high-volume manufacturing-scale production pilot line. Additionally, we began ramping up a new perovskite development line at our Perrysburg campus, which can produce small form factor modules.
Manufacturing growth continued throughout 2024, ending the year with approximately 21 GW of global nameplate manufacturing capacity, marking an increase of over 4 GW compared to 2023. This growth was driven by the addition of our new Alabama facility and throughput optimization in Ohio. We also made substantial progress with our Louisiana manufacturing facility during the year, which remains on track to commence commercial operations in the second half of this year. Once fully ramped, this facility is expected to boost our domestic nameplate manufacturing capacity to over 14 GW by 2026. Financially, we achieved record net sales of $4.2 billion and fully diluted EPS of $12.02, marking year-on-year increases of 27% and 55%, respectively. We ended the year with a net cash balance of $1.2 billion.
Moving to slide 12, on the commercial front, we secured net bookings totaling 0.5 GW in the first quarter, bringing our contracted backlog to 66.1 GW as of March 31, 2025. From a manufacturing perspective, we produced 4 GW in Q1, comprised of 2 GW of Series 6 and 2 GW of Series 7 modules. We completed a limited commercial production run of modules employing our CURE technology from our lead line in Ohio during the quarter, continuing to deploy these modules in both commercial and field test sites. Initial data indicate the enhanced energy profile expected from superior temperature response and improved bifaciality of the CURE technology is being realized. Furthermore, the laboratory-accelerated live testing is confirming the industry-leading annual degradation rate. Financially, we're at $1.95 per share and ended the quarter with a gross cash balance of $0.9 billion and a net cash balance of $0.4 billion.
With that, Mark, I'll turn back to you.
The floor is now open for any questions you may have. You may submit questions online by clicking on the Q&A button at the top of the screen. Are there any questions that any stockholders would like to ask at this time?
Mark, there have not been any questions submitted by stockholders.
If there are no questions or comments, I have been advised by the inspector of election that the tallies are now available. I will now ask the Secretary of the meeting to read them.
On the proposal regarding election of directors, the inspector advises that each nominee recommended by the board of directors has received the majority of the votes cast with respect to such candidates' election. Therefore, each of the nine nominees has been duly elected to hold office until the next annual meeting of stockholders or until their respective successors have been elected and qualified. On the proposal concerning the ratification of the appointment of First Solar's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2025, the inspector advises that 77,973,614 shares, or approximately 87.12% of the shares represented in voting on this proposal, have voted for ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for 2025.
On the proposal concerning the advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers, the inspector advises that 65,543,096 shares, or 86.80% of the shares represented in voting on this proposal, have voted to approve the advisory vote on the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers. On a stockholder proposal to adopt a special shareholder meeting improvement, the inspector advises that 11,666,491 shares, or 15.45% of the shares represented in voting on this proposal, have voted to approve the stockholder proposal to adopt a special shareholder meeting improvement. Accordingly, the proposal has failed to pass. Mr.
Chairman, the final results of the stockholder vote, reflecting all proxies received through the close of the meeting and any votes cast during this meeting, will be included in the final report of the inspector of election and will be published on a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available upon request.
Thank you, Jason. This meeting is now concluded. I want to thank you all for attending today's meeting and for the support you have shown First Solar.
Thank you, everyone. This concludes the meeting, and you may now disconnect.