Direct Drive vs. Gearbox
Old wind turbines used gearboxes to speed up the spinning blades. But gearboxes break, and fixing a gearbox 100 miles offshore is a nightmare. The solution? Direct Drive generators.
The Scale
A direct-drive generator connects the blades directly to a massive ring of permanent magnets. This eliminates moving parts and maintenance. However, the scale is staggering: a single 14MW offshore turbine can require over 4 to 5 tonnes of rare earth magnets. As offshore wind farms expand globally, the demand for Neodymium and Praseodymium is projected to explode.