First Solar Buys Project Developer Solar Chile

First Solar Inc., the biggest maker of thin-film solar products, bought a Chilean developer planning 1,500 megawatts of photovoltaic power projects as the U.S. company seeks to expand into Latin America.

The acquisition of Solar Chile SA is the company’s first “significant” move into Latin America, Alan Bernheimer, a spokesman for Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar, said in an e-mail today. Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.