Daily Shorts: Maxeon Solar heads to US, Algonquin puts renewables biz on the block

Canadian power company Algonquin Power & Utilities announced it will put its renewables energy unit on the block and transition into a utility company. The company has wind and solar assets of gross generating capacity 2.7 GW across 46 facilities in Canada and the US. In January, it had estimated the green power assets could be worth as much as $1 billion. The company also appointed director Chris Huskilson as interim CEO after incumbent Arun Banskota stepped down.

Singapore-based Maxeon Solar announced it would set up a 3 GW solar cell and panel factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico — its first plant in the US — at a cost of $1 billion. Maxeon said the facility would open in 2025 and capacity would be increased to 4.5 GW if demand was forthcoming. Meanwhile, First Solar announced it had selected the state of Louisiana for its fifth factory in the US. The 3.5 GW vertically integrated solar manufacturing facility was announced last month.

Germany's energy regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, announced it had awarded 1.8 GW of offshore wind capacity, split across four sites, to three different companies: German utility RWE, Swedish power generator Vattenfall and development firm Waterkant Energy. The tender raised €784 million, 90 percent of which would go towards reducing energy prices, the agency announced. The sites are expected to be commissioned in 2028.

Rio Tinto announced it would construct a solar plant to generate 4,200 MWh of power for the company's Diavik Diamond Mine. The plant, which will be fully operational by 2024, will provide up to a quarter of Diavik's electricity during its final years: the mine will cease commercial production in 2026 and be closed by 2029. Rio Tinto estimated the solar plant will cut diesel consumption by 1 million litres a year, reducing CO2-equivalent emissions by 2,900 tonnes.