First Solar Inc. Signs $848 Million Power Supply Pact With Apple Inc.

First Solar Inc.

signed an $848 million, 25-year agreement Tuesday to sell power to Apple Inc.

. Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar closed Tuesday up nearly 5 percent and changed hands recently in the extended session at $49.45, gaining $0.91. Apple will acquire the electricity from First Solar's California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, California. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2015, and to be completed by the end of 2016. The output of the remaining 150 megawatts of the project will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

under a separate, long-term agreement. First Solar said the Apple contract is the largest agreement in the industry to provide clean energy to a commercial end user. The 2,900-acre California Flats Solar Project occupies 3 percent of a property owned by the privately held Hearst Corp. in Cholame, California.