Dow Chemical said on Monday it would begin selling a new rooftop shingle next year that converts sunlight into electricity — and could generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015 for the company.
The new solar shingles can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingles, Dow said, and will be introduced in 2010 before a wider roll-out in 2011.
“We’re looking at this one product that could generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015 and $10 billion by 2020,” Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow Solar Solutions, told Reuters in an interview.
The shingle will use thin-film cells of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), a photovoltaic material that typically is more efficient at turning sunlight into electricity than traditional polysilicon cells.
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This is pretty good news, although it clearly aint the “American Industry” responding to market forces, or even real time needs… FTA, it also mentions word of the handout that clearly helped stimulate them:

“Dow received $20 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to help develop its BIPV products.”

not to mention their stock went up almost 5% after the announcement. Still, its progress. Rooftop solar systems have been kind of limited to roofing tiles, which have lower solar conversion efficiency than solar panels, and are pretty dang expensive. You see them mostly on celebrities pads or mcmansions. Dow says theyre rooftop solar shingle will be almost 30% cheaper, and cut the installation time in half. All good news for photovoltaic price points.

Chinese government officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with First Solar, an American solar developer, for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert.
Set for completion in 2019, the First Solar project represents the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, and is part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia.[ full article ]

Along with the recent Issuance of yuan-linked government bonds, it looks like China is putting some money behind their talk, unlike some other countries:

China’s Ministry of Finance said it plans to offer 6 billion yuan ($879 million) of government bonds in Hong Kong for the first time to elevate the “international status” of its currency. China is promoting greater use of the yuan overseas after Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern in March that the U.S. dollar will weaken, eroding the value of its $2.1 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves. Brazil, Russia and India have also said the world is too reliant on the greenback. [ bloomberg ]