Europe's wind energy industry and Germany's economic affairs and energy ministry set out a new roadmap today that aims to make the rare earth permanent magnet supply chain more resilient and reduce reliance on China.
The roadmap proposes — in line with the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act — that at least 30pc of permanent magnets should come from "resilient sources" by 2030, rising to 50pc by 2035. Furthermore, at least 35pc of the rare earth elements used by the industry should come from resilient sources by 2030.
Resilience is deemed "the wind industry's independence from individual market-dominating countries with regard to the procurement of permanent magnets and thus, to a certain extent, a diversified range of supply options". The roadmap considers resilience "holistically" — factoring in upstream materials and processing. Recycled permanent magnets are considered resilient.
The roadmap sets out three key milestones. Firstly, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expected to identify potential alternative suppliers of permanent magnets for wind turbines and make contact — ideally resulting in memorandums of understanding being signed by mid-2025. Secondly, after qualification and onboarding of new suppliers, OEMs should negotiate specific offtake agreements — ideally by the end of 2026 to enable implementation of projects in 2029. And thirdly, development of "resilient" production capacity for the wind industry should begin — targeting delivery of magnets by the end of 2028, so the first "resilient wind turbines" can be commissioned in 2029.
The roadmap urges flexibility in qualifying new magnet suppliers. "Given the currently low maturity levels of supply chains for resilient permanent magnets, the wind industry advocates that each resilience criterion relating to permanent magnets should initially be classified as an award criterion, with the first resilience tenders to begin in 2026. Stricter prequalification criteria are considered conceivable at a later date, beginning in 2030, although the exact timing will be reconsidered and, if necessary, adjusted in 2028."
The roadmap also calls for government support, including "raw materials funds" and tools to help companies access grants and loans.
Further suggestions include a mechanism for pooling European demand for permanent magnets, a major permanent magnet budget within the the European Innovation Fund, and the introduction of an additional magnet price index to complement existing Asian indexes.
The roadmap has been under development following a round-table discussion in October 2024, when measures were agreed to strengthen Europe's wind industry. Geopolitical events this year have sharpened OEMs' focus on permanent magnet supply — particularly Chinese export controls on certain rare earth materials and high-performance rare earth magnets introduced on 4 April.
Beijing has granted a few export licences for high-performance rare earth magnets, but volumes are tightly controlled, leaving many users around the world reviewing supply options and aiming to ultimately reduce their dependency on China.
