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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">WESD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Wind Energy Science Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">WESD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/wes-2026-201</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Environmental assessment of end-of-life pathways for permanent magnets in Dutch offshore wind turbines</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>van der Mijle Meijer</surname>
<given-names>Harald</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0433-2331</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Chen</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Jansen</surname>
<given-names>Kamiel</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6062-3336</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bansal</surname>
<given-names>Aaradhya</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>TNO, Wind Energy Technology, Westerduinweg 3, 1755 LE Petten, the Netherlands</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>TNO, Circular and Sustainable Impact, Princetonlaan 6, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>11</day>
<month>11</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>26</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Harald van der Mijle Meijer et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-201/">This article is available from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-201/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-201/wes-2026-201.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-201/wes-2026-201.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>This study evaluates circular end-of-life pathways for neodymium&amp;ndash;iron&amp;ndash;boron permanent magnets used in Dutch offshore wind turbines by combining an asset-level projection of the offshore fleet with a life cycle assessment of a representative 2 GW wind farm. Turbines installed between 1992 and 2046 are estimated to contain 8.2&amp;ndash;26.3 kt of permanent magnets, with end-of-life availability extending from 2036 to 2086, indicating substantial future potential for domestic recovery of rare earth materials. The principal finding is that short-loop magnet-to-magnet recycling provides the greatest climate benefit: it reduces the global warming impact of finished magnet production by 72.5 % relative to virgin production, compared with 26.5 % for long-loop recycling. At turbine level, however, the effect is diluted by other life cycle stages, and total impacts differ by less than 4 % across the assessed pathways. Short-loop recycling should therefore be prioritized where magnet grade and scrap homogeneity permit direct reprocessing, while long-loop recycling remains necessary for mixed, degraded or compositionally complex material. Realizing these benefits requires coordinated collection and dismantling, material traceability, design for disassembly and expanded European recycling and magnet-manufacturing capacity.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="26"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland</funding-source>
<award-id>TKITOE_ WOZ_2519 _Re2Mag</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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