Last week, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that new company Ebon Solar would be establishing silicon solar cell manufacturing operations in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol industrial development area, the same area where Maxeon is expected to start its own operations.
Ebon Solar, a division of Singapore-based blockchain and Fintech company Ebang International, will invest $942 million into greenfield development in Albuquerque. The 834,000-ft2 site will create more than 900 jobs.
Ebang says it has “strong application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip design capability” and will leverage that into solar cell development.
“Ebon Solar is proud to be an innovator in technologies that support renewable energy,” said Ebon Solar CEO Judy Cai. “The choice of Albuquerque for our investment aligns with our commitment to sustainable innovation, and New Mexico offers abundant solar resources, favorable renewable energy policies, and a dedicated, skilled workforce.”
There is little information on either the Ebon or Ebang websites about their solar efforts, except that they are focusing on TOPCon technology. Maxeon said it would spend over $1 billion to establish a 3.5-GW solar cell and panel manufacturing site in the region, so one would assume Ebon’s manufacturing capacity to be in the multi-gigawatt realm.