Recently, the International Energy Agency released the report "the role of key minerals in the transformation of clean energy", which forecasts the demand for metals and minerals required for low-carbon emission technologies to replace unsustainable power generation. The report points out the importance of nickel to the application of clean energy technology according to high, medium, and low levels, as shown in the table.
Clean Energy Technology | Importance of Nickel |
Solar photovoltaic power generation | low |
Concentrating Solar Power | medium |
Wind power generation | medium |
Hydraulic Electrogenerating | low |
Bio-energy | low |
Subterranean Heat | high |
Nuclear Electric Power | medium |
Electric vehicles and Energy storage batteries | high |
Hydrogen Energy | high |
Nickel is the key to making the alloy tough. Although its amount is small, it plays an important role in the successful application of clean technology. Taking hydropower as an example, although the amount of Ni is small in hydropower, it is very important for the welding performance of turbine blades and prolonging the service life of dam gate components. In some applications, it can even be said that nickel is indispensable to these technologies. Biofuel production is a good example, which is highly dependent on nickel-containing stainless steel. In fact, many kinds of energy require some form of Ni, it is used in all clean energy technologies.
