LOS ANGELES - U.S.-based solar panel maker First Solar Inc said on Thursday that it will supply 27 megawatts of solar panels for utility projects in the United States to a unit of juwi Holding AG.

First Solar said the panels will supply a 15 MW installation for JEA and another 12 MW for juwi Solar Inc's project with American Electric Power in Ohio. Construction on both projects is set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009 and be finished in 2010.

Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar said the projects represent new supply orders outside of its existing agreement with juwi Solar GmbH.

Juwi solar Inc is a Colorado-based developer and contractor and a unit of juwi Holding AG.

First Solar is the world's lowest-cost producer of photovoltaic modules, which turn sunlight into electricity, with a manufacturing cost for its cadmium telluride-based modules of about 87 cents per watt.

First Solar's shares were up almost 5 percent at $154.35 at mid-day on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Arizona Renewable energy Energy Solar