>Heraeus estimates that silver demand in photovoltaics reached around 195 million ounces last year. With global PV installations projected to remain stable at about 655 GW, silver demand from the sector is expected to decline further as substitution efforts continue.
Incidentally, when people clutch their pearls about solar panels not getting recycled, I point them toward this. The modules last a long time- at least twenty years. Twenty years ago, the world was installing 1.6GW per year, solar panels were relatively uncommon, so there aren’t really enough worn- out solar panels yet to set up a recycling industry. A small percentage always fail early or get doinked by hail, but transporting a diffuse supply of them to a central facility is costly. Now, solar panels are everywhere, and the value of silver put into them every year is *$15.2 billion* at current prices. Somebody is going to recycle them. There is a significant amount of copper wire, and aluminum frames. Consumer glass is barely worth recycling, but solar glass is much more transparent, it is high value, if the recycling system can separate borosilicate/ soda glass/ glass that contains antimony.
Economy-Fee5830 on
A year ago, Malthusians told us silver was irreplaceable in solar panels.
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This article appears to require a subscription, [here’s a similar article from PV Magazine.](https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/02/16/silver-saving-efforts-ramping-up-in-solar-industry-says-heraeus/)
>Heraeus estimates that silver demand in photovoltaics reached around 195 million ounces last year. With global PV installations projected to remain stable at about 655 GW, silver demand from the sector is expected to decline further as substitution efforts continue.
Incidentally, when people clutch their pearls about solar panels not getting recycled, I point them toward this. The modules last a long time- at least twenty years. Twenty years ago, the world was installing 1.6GW per year, solar panels were relatively uncommon, so there aren’t really enough worn- out solar panels yet to set up a recycling industry. A small percentage always fail early or get doinked by hail, but transporting a diffuse supply of them to a central facility is costly. Now, solar panels are everywhere, and the value of silver put into them every year is *$15.2 billion* at current prices. Somebody is going to recycle them. There is a significant amount of copper wire, and aluminum frames. Consumer glass is barely worth recycling, but solar glass is much more transparent, it is high value, if the recycling system can separate borosilicate/ soda glass/ glass that contains antimony.
A year ago, Malthusians told us silver was irreplaceable in solar panels.