Tellurium Could Accelerate Transition to Green Ene
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First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF), a Delta, Canada-based company that is currently developing next-generation battery technologies, may play a significant role in the global green-energy transition thanks to a mineral called tellurium. The mineral has applications in everything from solid-state battery designs to thermoelectric devices and solar panels that can transform energy from the sun into relatively low-carbon energy.
While conventional batteries use a polymer gel or liquid electrolyte to move lithium ions from the anode and cathode, solid-state batteries rely on solid electrolytes to carry ions between the electrodes.
Lithium-tellurium batteries outclass conventional lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density and have zero risk of fire, which frees up the space needed for safety components, making them more energy dense as well as safer and lighter than conventional batteries. This is just one of the potentially revolutionary technologies that partly rely on tellurium for their functionality.
Even so, First Tellurium Corp. president and CEO Tyrone Docherty notes that tellurium has mostly remained under the radar despite its applications in novel lithium-tellurium battery designs and cadmium-telluride solar panels. This is likely because the mineral’s most significant application is in solar-panel designs, but cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar technology is largely unknown by most of the solar panel market.
Compared to crystalline silicon photovoltaics, which have a market share of 80% to 90%, cadmium telluride solar cells (CDTE) account for only 5% of the global market. The novel solar-panel technology may be virtually unknown on the global scale, but it is gaining ground in America where the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a whopping 55% of new solar installations have been cadmium telluride solar cells.
Ohio-based company First Solar Inc. is largely responsible for the surge of CDTE installations in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is dedicating $20 million to building an initiative called the Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium that would work to make CDTE cells more energy efficient while reducing their overall costs.
In fact, tellurium may play such a key role in the green-energy transition that the DOE is projecting tellurium supply shortfalls as the mineral sees increased demand from the solar energy sector. According to the DOE’s 2023 Critical Minerals Assessment, tellurium shortages could begin as soon as 2025 if suppliers do not expand their production capacity significantly.
First Tellurium is currently exploring two mining projects in North America to secure tellurium supplies for the domestic market and fill anticipated supply shortfalls.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FSTTF
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