Vattenfall has announced its commitment to achieving 100% circular outflow of permanent magnets from their wind farms decommissioned from 2030 onwards. The company’s forward-looking approach aims to ensure that fully circular processes will be in place by the time large-scale wind farms containing permanent magnets are decommissioned.
Vattenfall’s target setting on permanent magnet recycling is also in line with the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. As part of this initiative, Vattenfall has formed strategic partnerships with specialised recycling facilities and technology providers focused on rare earth element recovery:
CAREMAG (France), supported by CARESTER its mother company, specialised in the development of rare earth processes, is currently working on a project to establish an industrial facility to produce recycled pure rare earth oxides from rare-earth-based permanent magnets.
Cyclic Materials (North America) has innovative processes and separation technology to recover rare earth elements from magnets and return them to the supply chain. The company has established expertise in extracting mixed rare earth oxides from wind turbine generators and components.
