Why it matters to materials
Electrification is a grid problem before it is anything else. Every new wind farm, solar field, factory and data centre needs conductors, transformers and switchgear — and transformers need grain-oriented electrical steel, which is itself a constrained product.
What it is made of
All materials →| Material | What it does here | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminium critical | Overhead lines and some cable cores | Defining |
| Copper critical | Cables, windings and busbars | Defining |
| Iron & Steel | Towers, transformer cores and enclosures | Defining |
| Lithium critical | Battery storage on the network | Important |
| Silicon critical | Grid-scale power electronics and HVDC valves | Important |
| Zinc critical | Galvanising every steel structure outdoors | Important |
| Silver critical | Contacts and switchgear | Present |
| Vanadium critical | Flow batteries for long-duration storage | Present |
Aluminium
A light silvery metal made by passing an enormous electric current through dissolved bauxite — which is why people…
Copper
The reddish metal that carries electricity better than anything except silver, and which humans have been smelting…
Iron & Steel
Iron with a little carbon in it, and the most-produced manufactured material on the planet.
Lithium
A soft, silvery metal so light it floats on water, and the element that lets a rechargeable battery store a lot of…
Silicon
The second-most-common element in the Earth's crust — ordinary sand — purified until only one atom in a billion is…
Zinc
The metal that steel is dipped in so it does not rust — a sacrificial coating that corrodes instead of the iron…
