LEXINGTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 5, 2010) - 1366 Technologies, a silicon photovoltaics (PV) equipment company, today announced it has completed its National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) PV Technology Pre-Incubator program six months ahead of schedule. 1366 Technologies signed the contract with NREL in October of 2009 to develop its Direct Wafer technology, which produces compatible silicon wafers directly from the silicon melt without casting or sawing.
"1366 Technologies was the first company to sign its contract and finished the program six months early, while exceeding their deliverables," said Martha Symko-Davies, Senior Program Manager at NREL. "Speed to market is critical for new technologies, and 1366 is on the fast track to commercialize its disruptive Direct Wafer process."
The PV Technology Pre-Incubator was the first of two government awards received by 1366 Technologies to develop its Direct Wafer technology -- which can cut wafer production costs by up to 70 percent. The Direct Wafer was also the only PV technology selected out of 3,700 applications for the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program. By completing the PV Technology Pre-Incubator early, 1366 Technologies was able to start its ARPA-E program in March, positioning the company to start building a factory in 2011.
"The NREL program was important and allowed us to make key hires and accelerate technical development," said Ely Sachs, CTO of 1366 Technologies. "With continued progress we have the potential to bring this disruptive manufacturing process to market quickly."
1366 Technologies is also commercializing its Self-Aligned Cell (SAC) architecture. The company has secured two lead development customers and is now selling the SAC equipment and process, which features innovative cell texturing and fine-line metallization to deliver higher efficiencies (up to 18 percent) with simple, low-cost solutions for cell manufacturers.
About the PV Technology Pre-Incubator
The PV Technology Pre-Incubator project focuses on accelerating the advancement of demonstrated PV module-related technologies to the prototype stage of technology development. The technologies are expected to be innovative, potentially disruptive, and capable of commercialization by 2015.
About 1366 Technologies
1366 Technologies combines breakthrough innovations in silicon cell architecture with lean manufacturing processes to enable the world's most cost effective high efficiency silicon solar cells. Developed by a veteran team of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, including MIT professor and photovoltaic industry expert Dr. Emanuel Sachs, the company's novel approach breaks the historic efficiency and cost tradeoff of photovoltaics. 1366 Technologies is headquartered in Lexington, MA. For more information, please visit www.1366tech.com.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Craig Lund
1366 Technologies
Director of Business Development
(781) 861-1611 ext. 204