To be developed on a 160-acre land in the community of Mesa Del Sol, the new plant entails an investment of more than $1bn, which is subject to a financial close under the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program
Singapore-based Maxeon Solar Technologies has selected Albuquerque, New Mexico, US as the site for its new 3GW solar cell and panel manufacturing facility.
To be developed on a 160-acre land in the community of Mesa Del Sol, the new plant entails an investment of more than $1bn. The investment is subject to a financial close under the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program.
The solar cell manufacturing complex will feature solar cell fabrication, panel assembly, a warehouse and administrative offices.
Maxeon Solar plans to commence the construction of the plant in Q1 2024, with the factory ramp-up scheduled to begin in 2025.
The facility will be designed to develop the latest-generation TOPCon photovoltaic (PV) silicon cell technology and the company’s proprietary shingled-cell performance line solar modules to address the rising demand for domestically generated solar panels.
Besides, it will cater to both the utility-scale power plant market and distributed generation rooftop applications.
Upon the completion of the solar cell and panel plant, the solar company expects to generate up to 1,800 jobs, including highly skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs.
The manufacturing facility will also produce millions of solar panels each year for the US market.
Maxeon Solar Technologies CEO Bill Mulligan said: “Our new solar cell and panel facility in New Mexico is an ambitious and concrete response to the need to decarbonize the U.S. economy while creating permanent highly-skilled local manufacturing and engineering jobs.
“We expect the new plant will also serve as an anchor to attract further regional investment in the solar supply chain. As a company that started in Silicon Valley 38 years ago, we are proud to be bringing U.S.-developed technologies back home and to contribute to the reshoring of a domestic solar supply chain.”
According to Maxeon Solar, it is currently examining the possibilities to increase the company’s US manufacturing operation by about 50% to a nameplate capacity of 4.5GW.
A final decision regarding the plant capacity is anticipated to be made later this year.
