Description: The Renewable energy planning database was used to gather information on the on- and offshore wind farms in the UK, including location data (latitude and longitude), installed capacity [MW], number of turbines, capacity per turbine, development status of the wind farm, Start date of operation. Furthermore, publicly available information on each wind farm was used to identify 1. wind turbine make and model, 2. wind turbine technology type (permanent magnet synchronous generator and 3. the permanent magnet and REE content of each individual wind turbine as well as the whole wind farm. Future work could build on adding material intensity data of other elements such as boron or copper. The initial dataset contains only material contents of wind farms in operation and decommissioned as of Q1 2024 and no wind farms currently under development are considered. The date of operation is used to identify the current lifetime of the different wind farms. The date of operation is also used to estimate, when the wind turbines reach their end-of-life and may become available for recycling. The time slider on the bottom left enables the user to see which wind farms are likely to be decommissioned in the future. This is important for the UK circular economy so that recycling companies and other stakeholders get a better understanding of the future availability of permanent magnet feedstock from wind farms that are decommissioned. An average lifespan of 25 years is assumed for all wind turbines. This is only a crude estimate and the lifespan of future models may be expanded by better design and maintenance.
Copyright Text: Data sources:
REDP database: Source of base data for windfarm location capacity, date of operation start
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 2024. Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract. (Online: GOV.UK.), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract [Accessed: 16 May 2024].
Individual wind farm websites and other websites: Information on the wind farm model for each farm.
Wind-turbine-models.com: Information on the generator type used in different wind turbines
Wind-turbine-models.com, Bauer, L & Matysik, S. 2024. Wind Turbine models. (Online: Wind-turbine-models.com.), https://en.wind-turbine-models.com/ [Accessed: 16 October 2024].
EU 2020: Material intensity of the rare earth elements (REE) in different wind turbine technologies. This is the REE content in kg. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Carrara, S, Alves Dias, P, Plazzotta, B & Pavel, C 2020. Raw materials demand for wind and solar PV technologies in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (Luxembourg: PUBLICATIONS OFFICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.) Available: https://doi.org/10.2760/160859 [Accessed: 14 March 2024].
Hsu et al. 2024: Information on the REE content in NdFeB permanent magnets. This is used together with the rare earth content data for each wind turbine technology type to come up with the magnet content per wind turbine.
Hsu, W-T, Petavratzi, E, Zils, M, Einarsson, S, Morasae, E K, Lysaght, O & Hopkinson, P 2024. Mapping the flows and stocks of permanent magnets rare earth elements for powering a circular economy in the UK. Sustainable Production and Consumption. 47, 37-46. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.03.027.
Description: The Renewable energy planning database was used to gather information on the on- and offshore wind farms in the UK, including location data (latitude and longitude), installed capacity [MW], number of turbines, capacity per turbine, development status of the wind farm, Start date of operation. Furthermore, publicly available information on each wind farm was used to identify 1. wind turbine make and model, 2. wind turbine technology type (permanent magnet synchronous generator and 3. the permanent magnet and REE content of each individual wind turbine as well as the whole wind farm. Future work could build on adding material intensity data of other elements such as boron or copper. The initial dataset contains only material contents of wind farms in operation and decommissioned as of Q1 2024 and no wind farms currently under development are considered. The date of operation is used to identify the current lifetime of the different wind farms. The date of operation is also used to estimate, when the wind turbines reach their end-of-life and may become available for recycling. The time slider on the bottom left enables the user to see which wind farms are likely to be decommissioned in the future. This is important for the UK circular economy so that recycling companies and other stakeholders get a better understanding of the future availability of permanent magnet feedstock from wind farms that are decommissioned. An average lifespan of 25 years is assumed for all wind turbines. This is only a crude estimate and the lifespan of future models may be expanded by better design and maintenance.
Copyright Text: Data sources:
REDP database: Source of base data for windfarm location capacity, date of operation start
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 2024. Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract. (Online: GOV.UK.), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract [Accessed: 16 May 2024].
Individual wind farm websites and other websites: Information on the wind farm model for each farm.
Wind-turbine-models.com: Information on the generator type used in different wind turbines
Wind-turbine-models.com, Bauer, L & Matysik, S. 2024. Wind Turbine models. (Online: Wind-turbine-models.com.), https://en.wind-turbine-models.com/ [Accessed: 16 October 2024].
EU 2020: Material intensity of the rare earth elements (REE) in different wind turbine technologies. This is the REE content in kg. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Carrara, S, Alves Dias, P, Plazzotta, B & Pavel, C 2020. Raw materials demand for wind and solar PV technologies in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (Luxembourg: PUBLICATIONS OFFICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.) Available: https://doi.org/10.2760/160859 [Accessed: 14 March 2024].
Hsu et al. 2024: Information on the REE content in NdFeB permanent magnets. This is used together with the rare earth content data for each wind turbine technology type to come up with the magnet content per wind turbine.
Hsu, W-T, Petavratzi, E, Zils, M, Einarsson, S, Morasae, E K, Lysaght, O & Hopkinson, P 2024. Mapping the flows and stocks of permanent magnets rare earth elements for powering a circular economy in the UK. Sustainable Production and Consumption. 47, 37-46. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.03.027.
Description: The Renewable energy planning database was used to gather information on the on- and offshore wind farms in the UK, including location data (latitude and longitude), installed capacity [MW], number of turbines, capacity per turbine, development status of the wind farm, Start date of operation. Furthermore, publicly available information on each wind farm was used to identify 1. wind turbine make and model, 2. wind turbine technology type (permanent magnet synchronous generator and 3. the permanent magnet and REE content of each individual wind turbine as well as the whole wind farm. Future work could build on adding material intensity data of other elements such as boron or copper. The initial dataset contains only material contents of wind farms in operation and decommissioned as of Q1 2024 and no wind farms currently under development are considered. The date of operation is used to identify the current lifetime of the different wind farms. The date of operation is also used to estimate, when the wind turbines reach their end-of-life and may become available for recycling. The time slider on the bottom left enables the user to see which wind farms are likely to be decommissioned in the future. This is important for the UK circular economy so that recycling companies and other stakeholders get a better understanding of the future availability of permanent magnet feedstock from wind farms that are decommissioned. An average lifespan of 25 years is assumed for all wind turbines. This is only a crude estimate and the lifespan of future models may be expanded by better design and maintenance.
Copyright Text: Data sources:
REDP database: Source of base data for windfarm location capacity, date of operation start
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 2024. Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract. (Online: GOV.UK.), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract [Accessed: 16 May 2024].
Individual wind farm websites and other websites: Information on the wind farm model for each farm.
Wind-turbine-models.com: Information on the generator type used in different wind turbines
Wind-turbine-models.com, Bauer, L & Matysik, S. 2024. Wind Turbine models. (Online: Wind-turbine-models.com.), https://en.wind-turbine-models.com/ [Accessed: 16 October 2024].
EU 2020: Material intensity of the rare earth elements (REE) in different wind turbine technologies. This is the REE content in kg. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Carrara, S, Alves Dias, P, Plazzotta, B & Pavel, C 2020. Raw materials demand for wind and solar PV technologies in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (Luxembourg: PUBLICATIONS OFFICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.) Available: https://doi.org/10.2760/160859 [Accessed: 14 March 2024].
Hsu et al. 2024: Information on the REE content in NdFeB permanent magnets. This is used together with the rare earth content data for each wind turbine technology type to come up with the magnet content per wind turbine.
Hsu, W-T, Petavratzi, E, Zils, M, Einarsson, S, Morasae, E K, Lysaght, O & Hopkinson, P 2024. Mapping the flows and stocks of permanent magnets rare earth elements for powering a circular economy in the UK. Sustainable Production and Consumption. 47, 37-46. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.03.027.