Solar energy needs copper

July 23, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

By 2023, an estimated $158 billion will be invested into solar energy. With this rapid growth in the solar energy market, what will the demand be for the natural resources vital to these systems?

With the growth rate of the solar energy market expected to increase by double-digits over the next decade, so will the demand for copper needed to power and ground cabling for these installations, said Zolaikha Strong, director of sustainable energy for the Copper Development Association (CDA), at the National Solar Conference.

Global investments in renewable energy are strong and predicted to continue to grow, with solar power expected to see double digit growth over the next 10 years -- from $91 billion in 2013 to an estimated $158 billion by 2023 -- according to a market study commissioned by CDA and conducted by BBF Associates & Konrad J.A. Kundig, Ph.D.

"Investments in solar power have already outpaced that of wind energy and are projected to continue growing into 2023, even with changes in pricing," Strong said. "Solar panels over large scale areas require installing miles of copper grounding and copper centric power cables. By 2020, we estimate that 150 to 410 million lbs. of copper will be used in these systems."

Copper usage intensity is four to six times higher for renewables compared to fossil fuels or nuclear, according to the CDA study, showing the demand for copper in the renewable market.

Both traditional and newer systems for producing solar energy use copper extensively. Thermal solar energy, which has been used for a years to generate electricity, is produced when sunlight is focused in a pressure vessel and moves to a boiler to generate steam. In the past, traditional systems used copper in older generators, transformers and grounding systems. While newer systems have added electrical and control systems needed for tracking drive motors, the usage of copper is still integral in newer systems which require copper grounding systems, according to Strong.

Given that old and new means of solar energy production have a need for copper, the potential market size for renewables shows the estimated copper demand ranging from 16.2 to 46.3 million pounds of copper, according to the research.

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