News: Photovoltaics

22 January 2025

First Solar endows Missouri S&T professorship in Critical Energy Materials

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA has established the Endowed Professorship in Critical Energy Materials in the materials science and engineering department at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). The decision reflects the strategic alignment between the two organizations, which have collaborated on critical minerals, particularly tellurium, for the past decade.

“We recognize Missouri S&T’s unparalleled depth of expertise in responsible production of critical energy materials,” says First Solar’s chief supply chain officer Mike Koralewski.

Dr Michael Moats, professor and chair of materials science and engineering at S&T, has worked with First Solar for many years, advising it on existing tellurium supply and opportunities to increase affordable and sustainable recovery of the metalloid from existing operations. He believes that First Solar’s endowment is key to Missouri S&T’s strategy to be a leader in critical minerals research by developing expertise on important points across the supply chain that governs each mineral’s journey to the marketplace.

“The position will plug into our team and complement the expertise we already have throughout the supply chain, from policy and economics to cleaning up afterwards,” says Moats.

Missouri S&T is home to the Thomas J. O’Keefe Center for Critical Minerals, which supports research and other scholarly activities, including the fourth annual Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals workshop funded by the US National Science Foundation, which S&T hosted in August. In addition, Missouri S&T leads the Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Energy Tech Hub consortium, which in October 2023 was selected as one of 31 tech hubs; the Tech Hub Program is administered by the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.

“Other economies dominate the global market for certain elements and, when restrictions are placed on those elements, there’s the potential to disrupt manufacturing, slow down our fight against climate change and impact our national security,” Moats says. “By ensuring that extractive metallurgy is taught at a college level, First Solar is helping us address these challenges.”

First Solar says that it is committed to investing in the education of the next-generation workforce that will enable the mining industry to better support the green energy transition. By endowing the professorship, it aims to foster research and education that will equip future professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to advance the mining and materials industries. The investment is reckoned to be crucial for developing innovative solutions and technologies that will drive the green energy transition and ensure a sustainable future.

Koralewski says that First Solar’s hope is to support research that benefits as many people and organizations as possible. “As America’s solar company, we want to help enhance our country’s critical mineral security by enabling Missouri S&T,” he says. “If discoveries made as part of our collaboration with Missouri S&T can be disseminated and more widely adopted, it will have a much more meaningful impact.”

See related items:

US DOE announces $10m funding for Critical Materials Innovation Hub

Tags: First Solar

Visit: criticalminerals.mst.edu

Visit: www.firstsolar.com