Recycling the UK’s offshore wind turbines when they are decommissioned could produce enough magnets to build a million electric vehicles (EVs) a year, according to a report.
The magnets within wind turbines contain a large amount of neodymium, a critical material used in EVs, aircraft systems and wind turbines. Current neodymium supplies are geographically limited, meaning sourcing is expensive and vulnerable to supply shocks.
A new report – Windfall: the recovery and remanufacturing of neodymium magnets from UK wind turbines – published by the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) and led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, finds that the UK has a real opportunity to secure a sovereign capability in manufacturing by recycling neodymium.
The report features analysis commissioned by Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, which finds that recycling a single large turbine at the end of its life could recover enough neodymium to produce motors for 12,000 EVs.
The UK...