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An assessment of U.S. rare earth availability for supporting U.S. wind energy growth targets

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  • Imholte, D.D.
  • Nguyen, R.T.
  • Vedantam, A.
  • Brown, M.
  • Iyer, A.
  • Smith, B.J.
  • Collins, J.W.
  • Anderson, C.G.
  • O’Kelley, B.

Abstract

Global initiatives are focused on deploying clean energy technologies, such as wind energy, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. onshore and offshore wind targets have been particularly aggressive. Some wind energy technologies, such as direct-drive wind turbines, rely on a volatile and Chinese-concentrated rare earth element (REE) supply chain. Global efforts have been made to develop new sources of REEs, with limited success. This lack of rare earth availability has been suggested to inhibit direct-drive adoption, despite its energy efficiency benefits. However, it is unclear if new U.S. REE supply could adequately support onshore and offshore direct-drive wind energy growth, and help meet U.S. wind energy targets. This analysis estimates U.S. and Chinese REE availability that could support U.S. direct-drive and other REE demand. Results indicated that U.S. wind installation targets with solely direct-drive designs could only require 4–12% of maximum light rare earth production from Mountain Pass, Bear Lodge and phosphate rock mines. When considering market dynamics and hypothetical U.S. production, U.S. light REE production capacity was not able to provide sufficient light rare earths to achieve wind energy targets. U.S. wind energy targets could be achieved by prioritizing 3–17% of U.S. light REE production for direct-drive wind energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Imholte, D.D. & Nguyen, R.T. & Vedantam, A. & Brown, M. & Iyer, A. & Smith, B.J. & Collins, J.W. & Anderson, C.G. & O’Kelley, B., 2018. "An assessment of U.S. rare earth availability for supporting U.S. wind energy growth targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 294-305.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:113:y:2018:i:c:p:294-305
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.11.001
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    3. Zuo, Zhili & Cheng, Jinhua & Guo, Haixiang & McLellan, Benjamin Craig, 2021. "Catastrophe progression method - path (CPM-PATH) early warning analysis of Chinese rare earths industry security," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Gondia Sokhna Seck & Emmanuel Hache & Clement Bonnet & Marine Simoën & Samuel Carcanague, 2020. "Copper at the crossroads : Assessment of the interactions between low-carbon energy transition and supply limitations," Post-Print hal-03118509, HAL.
    5. Zhou, Mei-Jing & Huang, Jian-Bai & Chen, Jin-Yu, 2022. "Time and frequency spillovers between political risk and the stock returns of China's rare earths," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Liang, Yanan & Kleijn, René & Tukker, Arnold & van der Voet, Ester, 2022. "Material requirements for low-carbon energy technologies: A quantitative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Chen, Jinyu & Luo, Xianfeng, 2024. "Climate warming, renewable energy consumption and rare earth market: Evidence from the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    8. Wang, Longyan & Zuo, Ming J. & Xu, Jian & Zhou, Yunkai & Tan, Andy C., 2019. "Optimizing wind farm layout by addressing energy-variance trade-off: A single-objective optimization approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    9. Rybak, Aurelia & Rybak, Aleksandra & Kolev, Spas D., 2024. "Development of wind energy and access to REE. The case of Poland," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Zheng, Biao & Zhang, Yuquan W. & Qu, Fang & Geng, Yong & Yu, Haishan, 2022. "Do rare earths drive volatility spillover in crude oil, renewable energy, and high-technology markets? — A wavelet-based BEKK- GARCH-X approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    11. Tessa Lee & Yuan Yao & Thomas E. Graedel & Alessio Miatto, 2024. "Critical material requirements and recycling opportunities for US wind and solar power generation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(3), pages 527-541, June.
    12. Xuedong Liang & Meng Ye & Li Yang & Wanbing Fu & Zhi Li, 2018. "Evaluation and Policy Research on the Sustainable Development of China’s Rare Earth Resources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, October.

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