London, 15 August, 2023, (Oilandgaspress) Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd. announced it has chosen Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the location for its first U.S. manufacturing expansion. The new world-class, 3-gigawatt facility will be designed to produce latest-generation TOPCon PV-silicon cell technology and the Company’s proprietary shingled-cell Performance Line solar modules to meet rapidly growing demand for domestically produced solar panels. The new plant is planned to serve both the Utility Scale Power Plant market and Distributed Generation rooftop applications. The total investment of the project is expected to be over $1 billion, and is subject to a successful financial close under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program. Maxeon is currently in the due diligence stage of its loan application and site selection is an important milestone in completing this process with DOE’s Loan Programs Office. DOE’s invitation into the due diligence and term sheet negotiation process is not an assurance that DOE will issue a loan guarantee, nor that the terms and conditions of a loan guarantee will align with terms proposed by the applicant.
The Maxeon plant is expected to be the first large-scale PV cell and panel manufacturing in New Mexico, and its planned capacity is approximately double the size of the largest silicon solar manufacturing facility currently operating in the U.S. Maxeon expects to begin construction in the first quarter of 2024, with factory ramp-up to commence in 2025. Maxeon has selected a 160-acre site located in the community of Mesa Del Sol, and is designing the complex to include solar cell fabrication, panel assembly, a warehouse, and administrative offices. Once complete, Maxeon estimates the new facility will create up to 1,800 jobs, including highly skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs, and produce millions of solar panels each year for the U.S. market. The New Mexico facility expands Maxeon’s global manufacturing footprint, which currently includes plants in Mexico, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Due to strong customer demand and the planned availability of sufficient infrastructure at the Mesa Del Sol site, Maxeon is currently evaluating plans to upsize the scale of its U.S. manufacturing operation by approximately 50% to a nameplate capacity of 4.5 GW. A final decision regarding plant capacity is expected later this year.
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