The phrase "a powerful element" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe something that has significant influence or impact in a particular context.
Example: "In the realm of storytelling, character development is a powerful element that can captivate an audience."
Alternatives: "a strong factor" or "a significant component."
Surely his religious belief, a powerful element in his psychological makeup, was discouraged?
Bourdain, in another discussion forum, acknowledged: "There has always been a powerful element of hustler in chefs".
The coincidence of bleak glamour and waifish loveliness with ferocious drive was a powerful element of her allure.
Turkey's economy has continued to grow, and for its allies the country remains a powerful element of regional stability.
There is a powerful element of poignancy to the settlers' plight and the choice they will have to make.
If there are children involved, there will also be – or should be – a powerful element of guilt.
The backing of the Carbon Trust has been a very powerful element in convincing the company that this is the way forward".
But in many ways, experts said, a more powerful element of the prosecution's case was its skillful, almost subliminal, evocation of the victims as unsuspecting everymen and women.
"There has always been a really powerful element of that in Will's music, going back to the first Okkervil record," which, he pointed out, included a song called "Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas".
But he also catches something that's as relevant to his business life as to his sex life: there's a latently powerful element of self-discipline and self-control in her slack and fumbling manner, one that, even unbeknownst to her, is merely awaiting some severe training to unleash her powers.
All respondents perceived pictorial health warnings as a potentially powerful element that could be added to the messages that can communicate quickly, and dramatically.
