Photovoltaic energy has made dizzying developments in the past decade. 25% better panel performance, price divided by 10! This upends the role of photovoltaics in the energy transition. However, many policymakers did not see this development coming, and in the current debate one still hears many arguments that there is no longer any reason to care about this energy. So, it's time to tell the truth from the fake!

PV modules will use rare earths: False
Photovoltaic modules used today do not contain rare earth elements. The main ingredient is silicon: it is used to make photovoltaic cells sandwiched between two glass plates. Note that glass is also made of silicon!

Silicon shortages coming soon: False
Silicon, the second largest atom on Earth (after oxygen) and readily available (ubiquitous in the Earth's crust).

There is no shortage of silicon, and there will be no shortage in the future. Raw materials are not in short supply. Sometimes, due to high demand growth, demand exceeds the capacity of the plants that purify the silicon. This is temporary and can be resolved by increasing the capacity of these factories.

Therefore, material scarcity is not an obstacle to large-scale deployment of photovoltaics.

In fact, if there is a point of caution, it is silver, used as a conductor between cells...if the PV market continues to overdrive, we may have to replace it with another conductor.