Molycorp, a major manufacturer of rare earth oxides (REO) outside of China, has declared its intentions to make notable level of investments in Boulder Wind Power, a company, which has designed a wind turbine generator powered by rare earth magnet and can generate electricity for around $0.04 per kWh.
Wind Power Generation. Credit: Scanwind
Molycorp has made its investment in the Series B Convertible Preferred Stock of Boulder Wind Power, which floated it in the market to raise $35 million capital. The investment enabled Molycorp to gain delegacy in the board of Boulder Wind Power thus becoming the favored supplier of rare earth magnets and/or other alloys for the wind turbine manufacturers employing the technology.
The patented wind turbine know-how of Boulder Wind Power lets the usage of rare earth permanent magnets that do not need the use of dysprosium, a comparatively scarce rare earth material. By the use of permanent magnets that are free of dysprosium and incorporating other technological innovations that drastically cut down the use of costly laminated electrical steel, the wind turbines utilizing the technology of Boulder Wind Power are anticipated to generate power below the level of $0.04 cents per kWh, thus placing it on par with power generation utilizing fossil fuel.
According to Mark A. Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Molycorp, by efficiently resolving the dysprosium sourcing problem for the wind turbine industry the new technology of Boulder Wind Power gets rid of one of the major problems faced in the growth of wind turbines using permanent magnet generators all over the global markets.