Solar panels in the news

[Dozer D]

Heard on Bloomberg Financials the other day, about the big upcoming market demand surge in China & California, for solar panel required production & installation, which is going to drive the price of silver to AT LEAST THE MNIMUM, of $100/ounce or more, in the year 2019. I know that talk has been around for some time about the lagging price for silver, but this time the story line is being backed by SOLAR PANEL usage. Your comments for discussion, DozerD

 

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[Diver_Down]

Every house built in California after the turn of the year will be solar powered as required by state law. I just heard that on the radio the other day.

Is that only new construction with existing homes grandfathered and excluded from the requirement? Or is CA requiring every home old and new to meet the requirement?

 

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[Ben Cartwright SASS]

What I understand is new homes...

 

[fistfulladirt]

What I understand is new homes...

Will drive the price of used homes higher.

 

[augoldminer]

Silver for the most part is a byproduct of mining gold copper and lead.

There are very few mines that produce just silver.

Only a small amount of this silver is used in solar panels and not enough to raise the price in a big way.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Silver for the most part is a byproduct of mining gold copper and lead.

There are very few mines that produce just silver.

Only a small amount of this silver is used in solar panels and not enough to raise the price in a big way.

How much silver is used in a lets say, typical residential solar setup?

 

[LooseChange]

How much silver is used in a lets say, typical residential solar setup?

There are generally 36 cells per panel and 10-20 panels per typical setup. Each cell contains 100-150mg of ASW. So, the range is 36g to 100g per residential (1oz to 4oz). Obviously a solar farm could be 1000's of times that.

There is silver in the photovoltaic cells, but only a fraction of the amount historically used. Recent improvements in cells has included material cost reduction as well as efficiency increases. The amount of Ag used is one of the primary drivers of the material cost improvements. A cell produced today has half the ASW of a cell from 2010 (which was half of what a 2005 cell had). It will continue to get reduced. At the same time, the efficiency of the cells will improve - which means fewer cells for the same kW output - which means less Ag per kW.

General electronics is still far and away the primary use for silver.