Financial Soultions: New roof shingle to be sold by Dow.

Oct. 5, 2009 - PRLog -- Dow Chemical Co. announced recently that it would start marketing a new rooftop shingle next year that converts sunlight into electricity, and predicts earnings of close to $5 billion in revenue by 2015 for the firm, Financial Soultions understands.

The new solar shingles can be put together into rooftops with standard asphalt shingles, Dow said, and will be launched in 2010 before a wider roll-out in 2011 in what can be seen as another inspired initiative in the ever growing alterative energy and cleantech industry, in which Financial Soultions is involved.

The shingle will use thin-film cells of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), a photovoltaic material that characteristically is more proficient at turning sunlight into electricity than conventional polysilicon cells.

Dow is using CIGS cells that operate at higher than 10% effectiveness, below the efficiencies for the top polysilicon cells, but which cost 10 to 15% less on a per watt basis.

The company has let Financial Soultions know that it expects "an enthusiastic response" from roofing contractors for the new shingles, as they involve no specialized skills or knowledge of solar systems to install.

The new product is the latest step in "Building Integrated Photovoltaic" (BIPV) systems, in which power-generating systems are built straight into the traditional materials used to construct buildings.

Financial Soultions understands that Dow's shingle will be about 30 to 40 percent cheaper than current BIPV systems.

The Dow shingles can be fitted in around 10 hours, compared with 22 to 30 hours for conventional solar panels, dropping the installation costs that make up more than 50% of entire system cost.

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