Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Copper and Onshore wind

An onshore wind farm uses about 2.5 to 7 tonnes of copper per MW, most of it in cables and earthing across the site rather than in the turbines, so the record 155.3 GW of onshore wind added in 2025 was a sizeable copper demand.

Copper (commodity) and Onshore wind (energy): 3 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Cables, generator and earthing

Physical flow · Strong · Copper → Onshore wind

Each turbine needs a copper-wound generator and transformer, and the farm needs cables between turbines, to the substation and into the grid, plus heavy copper earthing rings around each tower.

  • about 3.5 t copper per MW of onshore wind (7,766 lb), CDA estimate
  • about 2.5 to 6.8 t copper per MW across studied US onshore farms (5,600 to 14,900 lb, 2011 study)
  • up to 4.7 tons copper in a 3 MW turbine, 53% of it in cable and wiring (CDA)

The wide range reflects site layout: in the 2011 study, copper intensity rose with the physical size of the farm, and cable and grounding wire made up roughly 57 to 70% of copper in four of the five farms studied. Offshore wind uses far more, about 21,068 lb or roughly 9.6 t per MW, because of subsea cables. Generator and transformer windings also add copper.

Sources: Copper Development Association; BBF Associates for Copper Development Association

2. Record installations

Transition · Rising · Wind build-out → copper demand

Copper demand from wind scales with the gigawatts installed each year, so record additions translate directly into cable and generator orders.

  • 155.3 GW new onshore wind installed worldwide in 2025, up 42%
  • about 0.55 Mt implied copper for 2025 onshore additions at about 3.5 t per MW
  • 6.3 GW new wind capacity installed in India in 2025, a record

China added more than 120 GW of wind in 2025, so Chinese installations drive most of this demand. The implied tonnage is indicative only, because copper per MW varies widely by site and grid connection.

Sources: Copper Development Association; Global Wind Energy Council

3. Price link: main input

Cost and price · Weak · Both ways

Turbine contracts fix prices well ahead of delivery, so the US turbine price index shows no monthly link with copper.

  • -0.04 monthly change correlation
  • -0.09 12-month change correlation
  • 0.27 fitted elasticity

Copper is a modest share of a wind farm's cost next to steel, blades and civil works, and much of it sits in site cables that developers usually procure separately from turbines. So copper moves are likely to affect developer budgets and cable maker margins more than turbine prices.

Sources: Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Most of the copper in an onshore wind farm is in cabling and earthing, so cable makers gain more from wind build-out than turbine makers do from copper.
  2. At about 3.5 t per MW, the 155.3 GW of onshore wind added in 2025 implies about 0.55 Mt of copper, an indicative figure given the wide range per site.
  3. Turbine prices show no link to copper, so copper cost risk falls on developers and cable suppliers.

What to track

  • Annual onshore wind installations by country: Volume driver of wind copper demand (Annual · GWEC Global Wind Report)
  • Cable maker order books for renewables: Shows copper demand from wind and solar grid connections (Quarterly · company results)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. India installed a record 6.3 GW of wind in 2025, and every gigawatt needs a few thousand tonnes of copper, mostly in cables.
  2. Siting farms close to existing substations cuts cable length and so copper use per MW.
  3. Renewable generation already takes about 14% of India's cable demand, so renewable targets need matching cable and copper supply plans.

What to track

  • Wind capacity additions in India: Copper and cable demand from wind targets (Monthly · MNRE)
  • Domestic cable and copper rod capacity: Whether local supply can meet renewable build-out (Annual · company reports and Ministry of Mines)

India

India added a record 6.3 GW of wind in 2025 (GWEC), and renewable generation accounts for about 14% of India's cable demand (ICA India, 2025).

Sources

  1. Copper in renewable energy, Copper Development Association
  2. Market Study: Current and Projected Wind and Solar Renewable Electric Generating Capacity and Resulting Copper Demand, BBF Associates for Copper Development Association (2011)
  3. Global wind installations rise record 40% as industry charts way out of energy crisis, Global Wind Energy Council (2026)
  4. Price correlation, Material Insights, Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)
  5. Copper's Key Role in Cables, International Copper Association India (2025)