Solar energy technologies manufacturer 1366 Technologies has agreed to supply 700MW of wafers to South Korean firm Hanwha Q Cells over the next five years.
The wafers using 1366’s Direct Wafer technology will be supplied from the company’s planned manufacturing facility in New York, US, which is expected to enter service next year.
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The deal comes after a year-long strategic partnership and collaborative R&D efforts to commercialise 1366’s Direct Wafer technology with Hanwha Q Cells’ Q.ANTUM cell technology.
Hanwha Q Cells CEO Seong-woo Nam said: "This agreement aligns with our continuing efforts to bring about world leading technologies that enable solar energy to be more competitive and more affordable.
"We are pleased with the progress we have made together during the past year and excited about the potential of 1366’s Direct Wafer products with Hanwha’s cell and module technologies to deliver further cost reductions and LCOE competitiveness to standard multi-crystalline wafer-based modules."
1366 Technologies claims that its Direct Wafer technology transforms how the wafers are made and replaces a decades-old, expensive and wasteful manufacturing process with one elegant step.
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By GlobalDataThe company’s technology reduces the cost of a wafer by 50% and manufacturers a replacement for conventional wafers.
The Direct Wafer production plant in New York is being built at a cost of around $700m. The facility is also being backed by an incentive package of up to $56.3m from the state government, in addition to 8.5MW of low-cost hydropower.
Construction on the facility will be carried out in a two-phased approach.
1366 previously announced that the development will initially create close to 600 new, full-time jobs over a period of five years, with plans to eventually create more than 1,000 new jobs.
Image: 1366 Technologies develops and manufactures high performance silicon wafers. Photo: courtesy of governor.ny.gov.
