| ▲ | philipkglass an hour ago | |
Doesn't China have most of the exotic rare earths and stuff that you need in order to build solar panels and systems? Solar panels do not require rare earth elements. Some types of permanent magnets require rare earth elements, and some of those magnets are used in wind turbines, which might be where this confusion comes from since wind turbines and solar panels are frequently mentioned together. (Although even most wind turbines do not use rare earth magnets.) Crystalline silicon solar panels account for more than 95% of the global solar market. These are mostly made of glass, aluminum, silicon, and polymers. The rarest element typically used in them is silver, for metallic pastes used to form cell contacts. China is a significant but not dominant silver producer. In 2024 it accounted for about 13% of world silver production: | ||