There was a proliferation of asynchronous generator wind turbines installed very early on.
They tend to output kw or low MW rather than high MW, and as they do not use permanent magnets in their rotors, and they are inefficient by modern standards, due to the energy losses in the excitation field which creates Asynchronous slip. We still see this type of generator in hydro plants, and many other applications as they can tightly control outputs by varying the excitation field. You do also require relatively unencumbered space and weight limitations to get big numbers, due to the added complexity of the slip rings or a way to get current into the rotor, to generate the excitation voltage, as well as requiring robust rotor windings, to be able to generate MW. Additionally, PMSG DD units, which allow direct drive, don't require a reduction gearbox. As I said, prolific in hydro installations which have proven quite reliable over the last few decades.
From Goldwinds website-
A permanent magnet generator further boosts Goldwind’s advantage. Eliminating the need for rotor winds, slip windings, slip rings, brushes, and associated maintenance makes the turbine more reliable than a direct drive machine running on wound rotor excitation technology.
So it's not unusual that many manufacturers such as Siemens,Vesta and mega producers in China such as Goldwind, have steered away from this system due to the aforementioned limitations.
They have advanced permanent magnet, synchronous generators to where we are today.
A prime example is Vestas 15MW behemoth the V235-15, using of course a PMSG generator.
As for Vesta's beast, stats on this unit are quite incredible, some facts below-
A single Vestas V236-15.0MW is capable of producing 80 GWh per year offshore on onshore. That’s enough to power around 20,000 European households and save more than 38,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing 25,000 passenger cars from the road annually. And there's another 2 or 3 Chinese designs which are bigger again, 16MW plus, that also use PMSG. Quite simply, there are staggering amounts of rare earths being used here...staggering...
Checkout Goldwind, CSSC and Dongfang's latest offerings, who seem to be in a MW power race of sorts...which will force the European to compete into higher and higher MW ranges as well...
But enough of the present and future, lets take a look at your comment, and see how it applies to IXR's narrative.
Wind Turbines have a service life of 10-15+ years majority of Pre 2018 Turbines did not use Rare Earth Permanent Magnets.
So, Your comments although predominately accurate, do not tell the full story
Service lives vary greatly by manufacturer, types of systems used, offshore and onshore etc... Additionally we have ongoing issues with land and approved sites, so we are also seeing upgrades as well as timed life replacement. If you have a windfarm with 10X 2MW generators, why not switch out to 5/6/10 MW units and then yield 50/60/100MW.
This is happening now in addition to end of life unit replacements...and this new power race with the Chinese, will help continue this trend. So I have no issues with this description give or take 5-10 years.
One of the more popular units during earlier expansion into wind energy are the Siemens SWP/T-3.6 and Vesta's range, all with Asynchronous non PMSG's. Many others early adopters were double fed asynchronous to try and improve efficiency. So they of course will nor be suitable for recycling by Ionic. and I would agree that the majority of
But there are many examples of large wind farms pre 2018, using PMSG tech.
Germany Multibrid M5000, which is PSMG- 80 installed 2015 by Global Tech Siemens SWT6- 154 which is PMSG- 67 installed in 2017 by Veja Mate AREVA M5000-116 which is PSMG- 40 installed in 2015 at the Trianel Windpark Borkum Siemens SWT-6.0-154 which is PSMG- 97 installed in 2016 by Gode Wind
Sweden Markbygden Wind Farm i This farm has over 1100 wind generators in a phased, interconnected layout Enercon 82- 12 installed 2010 Enercon E92- 36 installed 2014 Plus many more later model Enercon's, all PMSG
Scotland Onshore Around 60 Siemens DD3.0, from 2012-2017
As for Ireland Onshore-
All PMSG
And many more, but you get the picture.
The majority of the older farms do seem to be asynchronous single or dual fed induction, but there are still literally hundreds,if not thousands, that aren't....which means still plenty of feedstock for Ionic Tech and its peers, whether it's for end of life replacement, or for upgrading....
Wind Turbines have a service life of 10-15+ years The majority of Pre 2018 Turbines did not use Rare Earth Permenent Magnets.
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