First Solar selected Rudolph Libbe Inc. as the design-builder of a 2.1-million sf manufacturing facility in Lake Township, Ohio. Rudolph Libbe answered the request for an accelerated schedule of a 12-month duration to turn over the site for equipment setting with nearly 750,000 man-hours on the project. Rudolph Libbe Inc. self-performed sitework, site concrete, site utilities, building foundations, concrete slabs, and masonry. GEM Inc., another RLG company, performed building plumbing, HVAC, building electrical, central utility building electrical, process mechanical and substation electrical work, structural steel, and equipment setting. Rudolph Libbe Properties used SiteLine™, its proprietary property services program, to negotiate incentives with state and local government bodies, including funding for road improvements and utility extensions to the 250-acre site.

This project utilized off-site pre-fabrication of many of the mechanical components to facilitate the accelerated schedule. The new facility now produces First Solar’s advanced technology Series 6 thin film photovoltaic (PV) module and increased its U.S. capacity by 100% while adding 450 jobs.

The Rudolph Libbe Group is a single-source provider of multiple self-perform construction and facility services. Its companies include Rudolph Libbe Inc., GEM Inc., GEM Energy, and Rudolph Libbe Properties.