General Electric will develop a 400MW thin film solar photovoltaic panel manufacturing plant in the US to produce the company’s thin film technology. Several locations are under consideration for the facility which will be the largest US manufacturing plant of its kind. The company estimates that it will produce enough solar panels each year to power 80,000 homes. GE has received an efficiency certification by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which found GE’s solar photovoltaic technology to have 12.8 aperture area efficiency. This surpasses all previously published records for cadmium telluride thin film. GE expects the global demand for solar photovoltaics to grow by 75GW over the next five years, leaving its recent investments well positioned in the growing industry. The company has signed contracts for more than 100MW of solar thin film products, including panels, inverters and entire utility scale power plants. It has also signed a commercial agreement with NextEra Energy, the largest US generator of solar power, for 60 MW of solar panels.