Solar

First Solar alleges Toledo Solar misrepresented PV module origin

First Solar alleges Toledo Solar misrepresented PV module origin
Inside Toledo Solar's manufacturing plant, where the company produce cadmium telluride thin-film solar modules.(Courtesy: Toledo Solar)

First Solar is alleging in a federal lawsuit that Toledo Solar passed off solar panels as its own when the modules actually were made by First Solar. 

According to the complaint, Toledo Solar allegedly misrepresented that the panels provided for the Ohio’s governor’s mansion were its own products made in the United States. First Solar said it made the panels in Malaysia in 2018.

The governor’s mansion first installed First Solar solar panels in 2004. In early 2022, according to the complaint, a representative of the non-profit Green Energy Ohio contacted the company to ask about how to dispose of the old panels as part of an equipment upgrade.

A First Solar representative went to the mansion in the summer of 2022 to retrieve the old panels, and noticed new panels were being installed. Those panels allegedly were marked with labels identifying them as “Made in the USA” and manufactured by Toledo Solar as Model Number TS1.  

The First Solar representative reported seeing imprints and serial numbers that indicated the panels actually were First Solar Series 4 modules manufactured at its facilities in Malaysia.

The lawsuit alleged that Toledo Solar etched a new serial number on the module and that the replaced First Solar’s junction box with a different junction box. The lawsuit said the junction box was installed improperly and could cause electrical arcing.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction stopping Toledo Solar from representing First Solar products as its own. It also asked the court to require Toledo Solar to inform customers who may have bought Toledo Solar products labeled as “Made in the U.S.A.” that were, instead, First Solar products made in Malaysia.

First Solar also said it was entitled to enhanced damages under Section 35(a) of the Lanham Act. The Act provides for a national system of trademark registration. It also is intended to protect the owner of a federally registered mark against the use of similar marks if the use is likely to result in consumer confusion.

GO DEEPER: Aaron Bates, CEO of the U.S.-based cadmium telluride solar manufacturer Toledo Solar, joined Episode 31 of the Factor This! podcast to discuss “untruths” in domestic manufacturing, CdTe technology, and the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts.

First Solar is based in Tempe, Ariz. and has manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio; Malaysia; and Vietnam. The company has been manufacturing solar modules at its Perrysburg facilities since 2002.

Perrysburg-based Toledo Solar was incorporated in 2019.

According to First Solar’s complaint, around 48 modules at the governor’s mansion were incorrectly designated as U.S.-made Toledo Solar products.

The lawsuit alleged three instances of “false designations”: False claims that it manufactured in Ohio solar modules that were installed at the governor’s mansion; false representations that solar modules it sold to a distributor were manufactured by Toledo Solar in Ohio; and falsely advertising that certain solar modules were manufactured by Toledo Solar in Ohio.

A Toledo news outlet quoted a spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine as calling the allegations “factual,” but declined further comment.

The case is 3:23-cv-01053 filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio’s Western Division.

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