Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Copper and Run-of-river and small hydro

Their prices have moved together.

Copper (commodity) and Run-of-river and small hydro (energy): 1 relationship.

How they are linked

1. Price link: main input

Cost and price · Weak · Both ways

Generator windings and lines to the grid use copper. Remote hill sites need long lines, so copper cost can matter more than for plants near cities. Copper theft from remote lines is also a problem.

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

Built from the site data on production routes, energy flows, industry value chains, input-output tables and prices.