alt Hacker NewsThe rare earths do come from China and that's where most of the environmental damage they cause happens. Rare earths can be mined almost anywhere. They aren't rare but they also aren't concentrated because they aren't water soluble. They are mined in places that don't care about environmental damage, not in places where specific geologic conditions exist (like everything else except AL). Also, you need them to make generators. When you put those generators in wind instead of in hydro or nuclear, you waste them. This is because they will generate 6 to 9 times as much power in hydro or nuclear plants as in a wind turbine.
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The generators are not the expensive or hard part of building hydro or nuclear, so I have no idea why you're making that comparison.
Wind power is an incredibly cheap form of power.
Your point about rare earths is more or less covered by my previous comment about solar panels and batteries.
Besides, rare earths is actually a supply chain that's being rapidly de-risked from China as we speak anyways.
Big generators in power plants use alternators with field windings, not permanent magnets. Wind turbines use either permanent magnet generators or induction generators. Permanent magnets generators are more efficient, especially at low wind speeds, but we can do without them if necessary.