Study Confirms Solar Power is Unrestricted by Materials Availability

AZoM.com

Renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar energy extensively use certain rare earth metals. The availability of these materials, including indium, may be affected by export restrictions for rare earth elements declared in China. The associated industries are trying to restrict usage of the necessary rare earth metals.

CSP technology utilizes glass and steel, which are quite abundant. When considering global reserves, there seems to be sufficient availability of these materials for CSP. However, demand from other industries may lead to a short supply of silver which is being widely used for reflecting surfaces in CSPs. The manufacturers of reflective mirrors may opt for aluminum and other cost-effective materials.