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Dow Chemical, the chemical manufacturer that plans to release roofing tiles with integrated copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells next year, has inked a multimillion dollar research alliance with Caltech to experiment with next generation solar cells.
The goal will be to identify relatively earth-abundant materials that can be exploited to develop future, cheaper solar cells. Caltech doesn't get the same sort of adulation in the press as MIT or Stanford, but the school has given birth to a few interesting energy startups. Secretive Alta Devices which has a next generation solar cell comes to mind. So does concentrator company Soliant, which is just going commercial.
Dow has become a quiet name to watch in solar. Although startups have jumpstarted the green market, the capital and manufacturing requirements needed to make solar cells or wind turbines mean that old-line industrialists and conglomerates increasingly may come to define the market. Earlier this year, Dow released a silicone (not silicon) encapsulant for solar cells that improved protection while increasing factory output. Honeywell also released coatings.
Disclosure: When I practiced law, I worked on some Dow Corning cases, but it's not like I remember anything.
