Maybe I’ve been playing too much factorio, but if the main ingredient is silicon it seems like we should be easily able to turn out TW worth of solar panels every year.
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I don’t see anyone mention that silicon is generally not the limiting factor. Thin film solar panels reduce the majority of silicon needed if that was the issue. It is the rarer elements used to create the photovoltaic cells that are in short supply.
Everyone mocked the solindra failure at the time as an Obama mistake, but their main issue was that China can manufacture solar cheaper than others because they control the mines for things like indium. It is one of the reasons those watching international news are so worried about china’s “investments” in Africa.
While China is going crazy in production, their shorting of the market has been quicksand under other manufacturers and tech development.
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