DOE backs tellurium enriched solar tech

Launches $20M consortium to boost American-made CdTe cells

Increasing federal backing of American-made thin-film solar technologies is likely to increase the demand for tellurium, a key ingredient of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells.

Tellurium is a metalloid, one of seven elements with properties that fall between metals like aluminum and tin and non-metals like carbon and phosphorus. These se...