For decades, metals like gold have largely stayed on the sidelines of solar tech. Gold is chemically stable and conductive, but it's expensive and has been thought of as impractical for large-scale energy production. Beyond wind and solar power, the exciting frontier of quantum computing is opening up new possibilities for gold. Researchers are investigating the use of gold in the development of quantum Gold is neither a critical mineral nor a metal that is central to the global energy transition in terms of. In 2023, South Africa's biggest gold producer, Sibanye Stillwater, wanted to build a massive solar photovoltaic plant to power one of its mines. The 50MW plant (the equivalent of powering 40,000 homes) would have substantially reduced the mine's reliance on the national electricity grid. This would. These crystalline compounds are cheap to produce and excellent at capturing light and turning it into electrical energy—so much so that labs around the world are racing to overcome the main flaw holding them back: long-term stability. Its ability to facilitate electron transfer enhances the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells, a technology critical for the next generation of solar energy. In wind energy, gold's conductive.
