Critical Minerals in Solar Panels and Wind Turbines
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Solar power is the largest end use of tellurium and a notable use of silver, silicon, selenium and gallium, while wind turbines depend on neodymium and dysprosium magnets. USGS estimates that solar cells took 70% of global tellurium use in 2025, and photovoltaics took 15% of U.S. silver use. Tellurium and selenium are byproducts of copper refining, so solar supply depends on copper output, and China's 2025 export controls lifted the average tellurium price 84% in Europe.
70%
of global tellurium use in 2025 was in solar power cells
80%
of refined tellurium production in 2025 was Chinese
+84%
rise in the average tellurium price in Europe in 2025 after China's export controls
Which critical minerals do solar panels and wind turbines use?
Each technology uses a different set of minerals, and some of them come only as byproducts of other metals. The table summarises what USGS and the U.S. Department of Energy document.
| Technology | Mineral | Role | What the source reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thin-film solar (CdTe) | Tellurium | Cadmium telluride thin-film cells. | Solar cells take 70% of global use; thermoelectric devices 15%, metallurgy 10%. A leading U.S. module maker projected up to 14 gigawatts a year from a fifth U.S. plant. |
| Thin-film solar (CIGS) | Selenium, indium, gallium | Copper-indium-gallium-diselenide cells. | Selenium: electronics and photovoltaics take 10% of global use. Tellurium sources name CIGS as the main thin-film competitor to CdTe. |
| Silicon solar cells | Silicon | Silicon metal is processed to polysilicon for solar and semiconductor use. | Three companies produced polysilicon in the U.S. in 2025; a fourth announced it would stop. |
| Silicon solar cells | Silver | Used in photovoltaic cells. | Photovoltaics took 15% of U.S. silver use in 2025, after electrical and electronics (25%). |
| Space solar cells | Germanium | Wafers used as substrates for multijunction cells. | A Utah company produced germanium wafers mostly for satellite solar cells. |
| Wind turbine generators | Neodymium, dysprosium | Permanent magnets in generators. | DOE said in 2011 that wind and electric vehicle makers were trading magnet performance against supply risk. |
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 chapters on tellurium, selenium, silicon, silver and germanium; DOE 2011 Critical Materials Strategy summary.
Why does solar supply depend on copper refining?
Tellurium and selenium are recovered from the anode slimes left by electrolytic copper refining, so their supply cannot grow independently of copper. USGS says the supply of tellurium is directly affected by the supply of the materials it comes from, primarily copper. The two U.S. primary electrolytic copper refineries, in Texas and Utah, produce copper telluride and crude selenium, and neither metal is refined in the United States: the material is exported for further processing. China produced 80% of the world's refined tellurium in 2025, and USGS links that to China's copper anode capacity, which more than doubled over ten years.
How have export controls affected solar materials?
China required exporters of tellurium to document end users and end uses from February 2025, and a license typically took about 45 days. USGS recorded that the controls limited availability in Europe and raised the average tellurium price 84% to about $150 per kilogram in 2025, and 60% to about $120 in U.S. warehouses. The tellurium licensing is one of the controls tracked on the export controls page.
What about wind turbines?
Wind turbine generators that use permanent magnets rely on neodymium and dysprosium. The Department of Energy's 2011 strategy identified five rare earths, including those two, as facing short-term supply risk for clean energy, and said manufacturers were weighing the performance benefit of the two metals against supply vulnerability. Current rare earth supply, prices and magnet capacity are covered in the magnet rare earths guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which critical minerals are used in solar panels?
Solar panels use tellurium in cadmium telluride thin films, selenium, indium and gallium in CIGS thin films, silicon as polysilicon, silver for contacts, and germanium in space cells. Solar cells took 70% of global tellurium use in 2025 according to USGS.
Are rare earths used in wind turbines?
Yes, in turbines whose generators use permanent magnets. Those magnets contain neodymium and dysprosium, and the Department of Energy flagged supply risk for both in its 2011 strategy. Not every turbine uses permanent magnets.
Why is tellurium supply limited?
Tellurium is a byproduct of copper refining, recovered from anode slimes, so it cannot be scaled independently. China produced 80% of refined tellurium in 2025, and its February 2025 export controls raised the average price in Europe by 84%.
How much silver goes into solar panels?
Photovoltaics took an estimated 15% of U.S. silver use in 2025, according to USGS, behind electrical and electronics at 25%. USGS does not give a world share in that chapter.
Sources
Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tellurium
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: selenium
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: silicon and silver. Silver chapter at mcs2026-silver.pdf
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: germanium and gallium. Gallium chapter at mcs2026-gallium.pdf
- U.S. Department of Energy: 2011 Critical Materials Strategy, summary. The latest DOE document read for this page
