Will A Solar-Led Renewable Energy Surge Be The Pandemic's Silver Lining?

(October 26, 2020 - Heraeus Precious Appraisal)

Silver stands to benefit from the global renewable energy drive in the wake of Covid-19, owing to its use in solarphotovoltaic (PV) cells. Solar energy is expected to lead the growth of renewable energy over the next decade, with PV installations increasing by an average of 13% a year and meeting almost one-third of electricity demand growth out to 2030 (source: IEA). Under the International Energy Agency’s Stated Policies Scenario, global solar PV deployment is forecast to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2021 and continue to grow each year after that, owing to widely available resources, declining costs and policy support.

Solar PV accounts for 10% of total silver demand, consuming 98.7 moz last year (source: The Silver Institute). However, consumption of silver in energy technologies, which includes solar PV, concentrated solar and nuclear, could grow by more than 50% of current demand by 2050, the largest proportion for any non-battery metal. More than 95% of this growth is due to a rapid expansion of solar PV (source: World Bank).

Click here to open the full story in a new browser tab.