First PV power plant to use 1366 Technologies high performance wafers

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US-Based wafer producer 1366 Technologies said that a small 500kW PV power plant in Hyōgo, Japan is the first commercial usage of its ‘Direct Wafer’ technology outside several test sites in the US, Germany and Japan.

US-Based wafer producer 1366 Technologies said that a small 500kW PV power plant in Hyōgo, Japan is the first commercial usage of its ‘Direct Wafer’ technology outside several test sites in the US, Germany and Japan.

1366 Technologies noted that the PV system in Japan used IEC-certified modules fabricated by a major Chinese module manufacturer and included over 120,000 of its wafers.

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“This commercial installation delivers all of the expected benefits specific to solar power and then some, the energy payback of an installation featuring Direct Wafer products is accelerated to less than a year due to the fact that our technology uses just one-third the energy,” said Frank van Mierlo, CEO, 1366 Technologies. “IHI has a long history of identifying and adopting groundbreaking technologies, we’re proud the Direct Wafer process is part of that story.” 

The commercial project was built by IHI Plant Construction Co, a subsidiary of Japan’s IHI Corporation.

The commercial project was built by IHI Plant Construction Co, a subsidiary of Japan’s IHI Corporation. Image: IHI
7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.

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