Solar panel maker Maxeon to open $1 billion US factory in New Mexico

By Nichola Groom

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Maxeon Solar on Thursday said it will spend more than $1 billion to build a solar cell and panel factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, spurred by manufacturing subsidies in U.S. President Joe Biden's landmark climate change law.

The investment is the latest by an overseas producer seeking to capitalize on incentives in the year-old Inflation Reduction Act to boost homegrown supplies of renewable energy components and compete with China.

The Singapore-based company is planning a 3 gigawatt (GW) facility that will open in 2025 and create 1,800 jobs, it said in a statement. It is subject to the successful closure of financing that the company is seeking through a U.S. Department of Energy loan-guarantee program for clean energy projects.

The facility on a 160-acre site in Albuquerque's Mesa del Sol neighborhood will be Maxeon's first in the United States. It currently produces panels in Mexico, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"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," Maxeon Chief Executive Bill Mulligan said in a statement.

Maxeon is weighing a plan that would increase the size of the facility to 4.5 GW due to anticipated customer demand. It will make a final decision later this year.

New Mexico politicians applauded news of the facility, which would be the first large-scale solar manufacturing plant in a state that relies heavily on the powerful oil and gas industry.

"I fought hard to pass the Inflation Reduction Act last year because I knew it could be transformative for New Mexico’s families and the health of our climate," U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich said in a statement. "Maxeon's new factory is proof that the Act is working as intended."

Since passage of the IRA, companies have announced more than $270 billion in investments in clean energy projects and manufacturing facilities, according to the American Clean Power Association.

Biden, a Democrat, visited the battleground state on Wednesday to tout a wind-power manufacturing plant that was built with help from IRA incentives. He has made the law, which passed without Republican votes, a central part of his 2024 re-election pitch.

Maxeon was spun off from U.S. residential solar installer SunPower in 2020. The two companies have a long-term supply agreement for Maxeon's high-efficiency panels. (Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Andy Sullivan)