Although solar stocks have taken some sharp hits throughout the course of this fiscally rocky fall, there are some companies and investors who continue to see opportunities in solar R&D. Since long-term there’s no question that renewable technologies will take over the energy market, it makes sense for a company to get a headstart on the competition in a slow period if possible.

Yesterday, Dow Corning announced it would be making billion-dollar investments in solar through Hemlock Semiconductor, a joint venture with two Japanese companies. Included in the investment is the construction of a factory that will allow the corporation to add monosilane gas (used in thin-film solar) to its stock of available solar materials, and one new and one expanded polysilicon plant.

In Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reported that a couple local young companies are forging ahead with research on two very different types of solar cells. 1366 Technologies is working towards the production of higher-efficiency silicon solar panels whose greater performance would cut the cost of solar down from an industry standard $2.20/watt to just $1/watt, putting solar on equal footing (at last) with coal. Is it a pipe dream? Maybe. But if the MIT-affiliated 1366 is successful in boosting solar panel efficiency, there’s no doubt prices would come down a good deal. 1366 is changing components of the standard solar cell like the copper wiring and the shape of the collector area to work towards higher efficiency.

There are some folks who think silicon is a dead-end for solar cells. Wakonda Technologies is working on one of the alternatives, using gallium arsenide to produce ultra-thin, ultra-flexible solar cells manufactured using a rollout process (as the Globe points out in an analogy likely to be lost on readers twenty years from now, a process not unlike newspaper printing). With a goal of 30% efficiency–more than 10% higher than current silicon cells–the gallium arsenide approach is intriguing. Another Massachusetts research firm, Konarka Technologies, announced this week that it acquired $45 million in funding from the French company Total, making Total the largest shareholder. Konarka is concerned with thin-film solar plastics.

So considering that the solar sector took another plunge on Monday, it looks like some parts of the market are willing and able to look beyond the short-term and focus instead on the real long-term benefits of both solar, and getting ahead of the pack.