I don't have a full list of materials that go into the panels and the infrastructure to support the manufacture, distribution and operation of the panels and the resultant electricity but I'm sure it is far more varied that you imply. I understand indium is used in many/most panels, for example, and steel requires a carbon source. Ore extraction facilities require resources (and can do environmental damage). Manufacturing facilities require varied resources (for construction and operation).

Solar PV is a limiting factor in sustainability, just as using any limited resource (no matter what the theoretical size of the resource) would be. But solar PV could certainly be a help in providing energy at a limited but sustainable level.

There are more materials, but the bulk of overall materials is in the infrastructure, not manufacturing, unless we're destroying and rebuilding our manufacturing line every year. ;) Transmission is almost all Al/Fe. For steel news on biocharcoal seems to be picking up a bit, although it's not receiving a lot of publicity since coking coal isn't going to be in short supply any time soon, compared to oil at least. Indium is used in thin film panel manufacturing, specifically in CIGS, but thin film is only projected to capture ~30% of the market by 2012, and has been and will represent the minority of panels produced for a while. Even then, it's not like we can't make solar panels w/o Indium, just that at the moment they appear to be the cheapest, at least in bulk, with thin film Silicon not too far behind IIRC. While Indium may present a limit to CIGS based thin film, solar panels in general do not require it, it just happens to allow for the cheapest manufacturing at the moment.

Besides, saying that solar PV is a limiting factor in sustainability because it uses limited resources is kind of pointless since the sun's useful lifespan is also limited for the same reason. I mean, when looking at sustainability, we should be looking at likely (and present in some cases) limiting factors, not trivial ones. Sure, we can't have an infinite number of solar panels, just like we can't have an infinite time with the sun as it is now, but neither one is a meaningful limiting factor in terms of sustainability, at least not yet. If we manage to get to that point that they are likely limits whenever in the future I'll happily concede the fact, but as of right now we have thousands of years worth of other crap that'll provide a limit far sooner than solar panels, or for that matter the sun's lifetime, will.

You keep saying things like "the bulk of" and "almost all", as though they mean the same as "all". If any resource becomes scarce, no matter how little is used, that will define the limit unless there is a ready substitute of at least equal quality.

Even if we don't destroy our manufacturing capability each year (with or without a smiley), to increase the capacity will take extra resources.

Even if Al and Fe are vast resources, theoretically, in practical terms they are more limited. But just because a resource will last (and be able to be extracted at constant or increasing rates) for hundreds of years or thousands of years, or more, that doesn't make it infinite.

You also use throw away terms like "isn't going to be in short supply any time soon" without defining "soon" or citing sources for such optimism.

It is not pointless to point out that PV is not unlimited and has a limit for sustainability. It IS pointless to state the Sun's useful lifespan, since solar energy, per se, is not a limiting factor for sustainability but our diversion of solar energy, and the resources needed to do so, will be limiting at some level. We should not assume that there is no practical limit because that can lead to unsustainable strategies. Why not tread carefully? I don't see what the downside would be other than having to think before acting.