Solar Panel Makers Ditch Expensive Silver, Pivot to Copper as Costs Spiral

The solar panel industry faces an unexpected crisis. Silver prices have skyrocketed to an all-time high of US$93.77 per ounce—nearly double the level from September and up roughly 200 percent year-over-year. For solar manufacturers, this creates an urgent problem: silver now accounts for approximately 14 percent of total solar panel production costs, a dramatic spike from just 5 percent in 2023.

The math is brutal. With global solar installations hitting record numbers, manufacturers are caught between surging demand and unsustainable input costs. Top Chinese producers have decided to take action.

The Industry’s Shift Away from Silver

China dominates more than 80 percent of worldwide solar PV manufacturing capacity. In response to silver’s volatility, major players are aggressively pursuing alternatives. LONGi Green Energy announced plans to launch mass production of solar cells using base metals instead of silver beginning in Q2 2025. JinkoSolar Holding declared similar intentions in December, committing to large-scale production without silver. Smaller competitor Shanghai Aiko Solar Energy is already producing 6.5 gigawatt solar cells that eliminate silver entirely.

This isn’t isolated experimentation—it’s a structural shift. The convergence of these efforts signals that the solar industry is fundamentally rethinking panel design and manufacturing processes to manage costs.

Why Copper Emerges as the Natural Alternative

Among base metals, copper has emerged as the frontrunner for replacing silver in solar panel price calculations. While silver trades at roughly 22,000 percent higher per troy ounce than copper, the red metal offers compelling advantages:

• Abundance: Copper is far more plentiful than silver
• Cost-effectiveness: Significantly cheaper across supply chains
• Supply resilience: Benefits from a more diversified, stable supply network

However, copper isn’t a perfect substitute. Its electrical conductivity slightly trails silver, and oxidation poses durability challenges for long-term solar installations.

The Technical Challenge: Cell Architecture Matters

The path forward depends heavily on which solar cell technology dominates. TOPCon cells (tunnel oxide passivated contact) currently lead the market and are expected to capture 70 percent of production by 2026. Adapting copper to TOPCon manufacturing requires extreme temperatures, making the transition technically demanding.

Back-contact (BC) cells, manufactured by companies like LONGi, present a simpler copper integration pathway. The adapted manufacturing process is considerably less complex, making BC cells an attractive technology vector for copper-based solar panel solutions.

Notably, BC cells already demonstrate superior performance—field data shows they generate up to 11 percent more energy over their lifetime compared to TOPCon modules, making them a dual win: both cost-reduction and efficiency gains.

What’s Next for Silver Demand?

The consequences are already materializing. The Silver Institute projected that industrial silver demand would decline 2 percent in 2025 to 665 million ounces, with the solar sector accounting for approximately 5 percent of that decrease—despite record-high global PV installations. This reduction stems directly from manufacturers using less silver per module.

Yet the transition won’t happen overnight. Manufacturing costs for BC cells won’t reach parity with the established TOPCon process until the decade’s end. Market observers anticipate a coexistence period from 2028 to 2030 where both technologies operate simultaneously.

The solar industry’s pivot away from silver reflects broader market forces: the need to scale production efficiently while managing exposure to volatile commodity pricing. Whether copper proves to be the long-term answer depends on continued technological refinement and manufacturing breakthroughs in the years ahead.