23 - Materials: Abundance, Purification, and the Energy Cost Associated with the Manufacture of Si, CdTe, and CIGS PV

Abstract

Materials are critical to any economy. They are integral to the systems that provide energy to industry and society such as photovoltaic (PV) technology. Also, the energy costs of developing critical materials can seriously impact the PV industry. Assessing precisely what these costs are is extremely difficult, especially for secondary ores and uncommon materials used by the industry. While PV module efficiency is increasing, the energy costs of securing materials for development is increasing as well. Not all materials are likely constrained, and there are ways to improve efficiencies. Today, obtaining materials of PV-grade purity relies heavily on fossil fuels, for which energy costs are also increasing. One of our most critical needs if we are to achieve a better understanding of a future involving a continued rapid-upscale of PV electricity, is better information about material availability in the long term and the energy costs associated with that.