Rare Earth Solar Panels

Revision of solar panel production process.

Rare earth solar panels.

Of the commonly used batteries only nickel metal hydride nimh batteries contain a rare earth alloy on the cathode but. Rare earth metals hard to find materials with unfamiliar names such as lanthanum neodymium and europium are used in wind and solar energy projects but dwindling supplies could hindera roll out of low carbon technologies and slow china s shift away from coal power. Lawrence meinert the acting deputy associate director of the energy and minerals division of the united states geological survey usgs called humanity s consumption of metals over the last century truly mind boggling. Neodymium is a so called rare earth element a silvery metal with a very important role.

High performance batteries need lithium which is only easily extracted from briny pools in the andes. Invex news increased demand for solar panels solar panels archives steel aluminum critical materials strategy home gvs rare earths are rare earths in solar panels pv internationalhome gvs rare earthswe don t mine enough rare earth metals to replace fossil fuelssolar panels indexmundirare earth elements and role in renewable energy kernthe dark side of renewable. Currently marketed photovoltaic solar technologies do not use rare earths. In 2011 the average price of rare earth metals shot up by as much as 750 percent.

So why the interest in rare earth. More clean energy means more solar panels wind turbines electric vehicles and large scale batteries. Using the magnet mounting kit is easy. A new report by the french environment and energy management agency ademe shows that rare earth minerals are not widely used in solar energy and battery storage technologies.

For example a single tesla vehicle requires about 15 pounds or a bowling ball s worth of lithium and thin cheap solar panels need tellurium one of the rarest elements on earth. We have found very high power rare earth magnets up to 20 pound pull strength per magnet are ideal for temporary mounting of our flexible solar panels on a canvas bimini or dodger. Thin cheap solar panels need tellurium which makes up a scant 0 0000001 percent of the earth s crust making it three times rarer than gold. Mining for rare metals is considered to be one of china s most polluting industries presenting potential disasters relating to contamination that threaten to cause a wide scale catastrophe.