Tempe-based First Solar is #7 on Fortune magazine's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies and one of 3 they say to pay particular attention to.
They predict that "If production costs continue to decline at current rates, power plants equipped with First Solar modules will be able to sell electricity for about 10¢ to 12¢ per kilowatt-hour by 2015, comparable with electricity from gas-fired plants operating at peak daytime rates."
[right, 10 MW Sempra Energy solar plant, El Dorado, NV, using First Solar panels]
First Solar makes a proprietary thin-film PV module based on cadmium-telluride (CdTe) as the semiconductor material.