Wind turbines require nine tons of copper, which is the weight of an average school bus

Wind turbines require a lot of copper. A recent study from the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that the average onshore wind turbine requires about three metric tons of copper for each megawatt (MW) of installed capacity, which you can see in the IEA graph below.

This means a 3 MW wind turbine, the average size of new wind turbines installed in the United States in 2021, needs 9 tons of copper, which is the weight of a fully-loaded Type B school bus.

A recent study by S&P Global found that world copper production would need to double by 2035 to provide enough metal for the wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars that liberal lawmakers want to mandate into existence. The study found that even if we assumed record levels of mining and recycling, there wouldn’t be enough copper to meet that demand.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration is burning the copper-supply candle at both ends. Not only is the President subsidizing wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage facilities with taxpayer dollars, but he also pulled the leases from the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine, which would have produced over 45,000 tons of copper per year, enough to build 5,000 onshore wind turbines.