Solar company to lease facility to kickstart operations in Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Singapore solar company is planning to lease a facility in northeast Albuquerque to kickstart its operations here.

In August 2023, Maxeon Solar Technologies announced a $1 billion, 2-million-square-foot facility on a 160-acre spot in Mesa del Sol. The company planned to construct the facility in time to have it open by the end of 2025 with 1,800 people employed.

Now, a Maxeon spokesperson confirmed they will move into a 40-acre site with existing buildings on San Mateo Boulevard. The spokesperson stated this will allow them to “rapidly deploy” a 2 GW solar module assembly facility and start production.

“This represents a modification to our previous plans. And we are now moving forward with this initial first stage in our U.S. solar manufacturing. This means starting with module assembly in the new location while we continue to evaluate our longer-term objective of also establishing solar cell manufacturing capacity and evaluating options for Mesa Del Sol,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that “the move was made independently of the change in [U.S.] leadership or potential policy shifts.”

Maxeon touted the initial plans as making Albuquerque the future home to the only solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S.

“There is currently no solar cell manufacturing here in the United States,” Mulligan said. “For the most part, it’s all made in Asia today. So it’s a big deal that we’re coming back here, reshoring this technology.”

Maxeon plans to begin solar panel manufacturing in the San Mateo facility in early-2026.

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