Big boost for silver industrial demand

We reported last year on the massive expansion of solar power in China and Japan with silver being a key component of photovoltaic cells.  India has just announced commencement of the worlds largest solar plant which is set to consume 20m oz (622 tonne) per year.  Solar energy demand for silver in 2013 was approximately 50m oz so this represents a 40% jump in demand in an already constrained market putting more pressure on silver prices.  It is part of India’s plan to become a world leader in solar energy with an expansion of capacity from the current 2.5GW to 20 GW by 2020.