Sustainability and supply-chain risks for terawatt-scale PV

Despite the world's effort to decarbonise the energy sector, the majority of primary energy is still produced by fossil fuels (82%), and the renewables share of primary energy consumption was 7.5% in 2022.

1. The global installed PV capacity has increased rapidly in the past two decades. Since last year, the world has reached 1.18 TW cumulative capacity. However, despite the 24% increase, significantly more than what has been installed is required to mitigate climate change. While PV is known to be environmentally sustainable, the rapid increase in the market size is leading to material shortages.
2. The most heavily used materials for PV modules are glass, aluminium, silicon, EVA, etc. While only about 0.03% of a module weight is made of silver, the PV industry still required over 14% of silver supply last year in 2022. It is projected that even abundant materials such as copper, concrete, and aluminium can face material shortages. 
3. Considering how the world needs to expand the scale by more than a factor of 10 within the coming decade, the material shortage may become a significant issue towards the sustainability of the industry.