UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-First Solar in project talks with utilities

(Adds details on utilities, background on company)

NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - First Solar Inc (FSLR.O: Quote, Profile, Research), maker of thin-film photovoltaic solar equipment, is in talks with U.S. utilities to build renewable energy projects, Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Ahearn said on Thursday.

"We are having multiple discussions, and what we are trying to get to this year is some initial relationships and some pilot projects," Ahearn told Reuters in an interview.

First Solar, whose stock jumped more than eight-fold in 2007, has been the darling of the renewable energy sector as it ramped up output, adding a new plant in Germany last year and launching construction of additional production facilities in Malaysia.

Its bid to seek contracts with U.S. utilities could open a new market that so far has been dominated by solar thermal technology, which uses mirrors to focus the sun's heat to warm a liquid that drives a power turbine.

Solar thermal systems are expected to drive large-scale power systems more cheaply than photovoltaic modules, such as those built by First Solar, which turn sunlight directly into electricity inside the solar cell.

Last week, Edison International's (EIX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Southern California Edison utility announced it planned to build the largest photovoltaic solar system in the United States, totaling 250 megawatts, or enough power to supply 162,000 homes.

Ahearn also said he did not expect any problems in getting supplies of the metal tellurium, which it uses to make its solar cells, and said the company expects to have "lots of discussions" in the next one to two years about sites for potential new production plants. (Reporting by Matt Daily and additional reporting by Nichola Groom, editing by Richard Chang)