![]() Elon Musk's special brandĭow's business model backfired too. Conventional silicon-based solar is already complex, but anyone thinking of buying Dow's new CIGS solar shingles needed even more information, which should have been tied directly to the company's scientific expertise. So even though Dow worked hard to increase its shingle's power density, improve the appearance and speed up production and installation, less than five years after their debut, Liveris had Dow pull the plug and stop the assembly lines. On top of that, why embed a system when a rack mount makes repairs and solar upgrades so much easier? There's another advantage: since asphalt roofs absorb a lot of heat and jack up air conditioning bills, rack-mounted solar reduces energy costs by insulating the roof from the sun. So although owners could take advantage of net metering paybacks facilitated by Dow's grid-connected inverters, the returns were disappointing. Eventually Dow's customers realized that buying building-integrated solar (BIPV) from Dow amounted to "paying a premium for less return," as Greentech Media's Julian Spector said at the time. Reportedly, output stumbled along at only 400 shingles a day for a long time. Having passed up silicon for a newer technology, Dow also had a hard time scaling up production to reduce costs. So when prices for silicon modules started dropping, finally falling 80% over the next five years, Dow's cost advantage was wiped out, and reduced efficiency became a big liability. But there was a catch: CIGS cells were less efficient. ![]() Since asphalt shingles are the cheapest roofing material on the market, Dow stayed in the same niche by using inexpensive thin-film CIGS cells, which, at the time, were much cheaper than silicon. Unfortunately, Dow's early decision doomed its project from the start. Suddenly it was a no-brainer to integrate small clusters of solar shingles into all of those roofs.Īt the time, Jane Palmieri, managing director of solar solutions for Dow, said, "We foresee a potential addressable market of $5 billion by 2015."ĭuring Dow's splashy 2011 launch, CEO Andrew Liveris thought his new solar shingles were a slam dunk, confidently telling reporters that the technology was ".a key part of its strategy to invent and innovate." There are many reasons Tesla/SolarCity's solar roof might not catch on, but it's important to realize that Tesla, a nimble startup fronted by Musk's megawatt personality, doesn't have Dow's problems to worry about.ĭow's problems began in 2010 - with a treacherously brilliant idea. Company execs looking to cash in on the solar boom had watched the market expand from early adopters to the general public, and, even more enticing, they also knew that asphalt shingles cover four out of five homes in the US.
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