This episode Allen and Phil examine China's move to end its domestic wind turbine price war and its global market implications. They discuss Germany's countermeasures and the complexities of international manufacturing in the U.S. wind industry. Additionally, they highlight an innovative bolt tensioning system featured in PES Wind Magazine, showcasing advancements in wind turbine maintenance technology.

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Allen Hall: Well, Phil, a Minnesota man has won the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh off with a 2, 400 pound squashy dub. Travis Ginger of Nalvin traveled his gargantuan gourd to the competition in Half Moon Day, California, of course, Phil, not for where you are where it was placed on a massive scale and dubbed the heaviest in the contest.

The win marked Giger's fourth top spot win in the Safeway World Championship pumpkin weigh off. And if you're not from the United States, Safeway is a grocery store. It's Really big in California and a couple other places. So a 2, 400 pound squash. Now that's not the most he's ever. grown. And back in 2023, he raised a 2, 700 pound pumpkin named Michael Jordan.

Now I don't understand why they have to name these things. That is the mystery to me is why would you have to name a pumpkin or a gourd? It is what it is. And it's just heavy, right?

Philip Totaro: I mean, I'm, I'm impressed not only by the, the growing of something that large, but the logistics of getting it from the Midwest out to California.

I mean, we talk in the wind energy industry about the logistics around, shipping components and, and things like that all the time. I mean, how the hell do you even truck a 2, 400 pound? And that's, that's gotta be a pretty, that's got, that's a big rig right there, isn't it? It'd be

Allen Hall: Travis to start.

Moving some blades around. There's been some blades that look like they've been moved like pumpkins, I've seen lately. Yikes.

Philip Totaro: Yeah, well, Aion, we did catalog the fact that blade damage was the number one cost impact on, on repairs, so. Maybe this guy can teach the industry a thing or two.

Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, and I'll be joined by my Uptime co host, After these news headlines, France is making waves in offshore wind development, announcing plans to tender for 9. 2 gigawatts of projects in the coming months. This includes two fixed and three floating wind farms to be built off the coast of the Ficon, Brittany, the Gasconia Gulf, and the southern Mediterranean.

These installations are part of France's ambitious goal to have 45 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2050. Francis, Energy Minister, emphasized the importance of these projects for the industrial value chain, urging companies to maintain their local presence for turbine manufacturing and installation.

Crossing the Atlantic, Hydro Québec and Lyons, de l'Energie de l'Est. has unveiled a plan for a new wind farm in eastern Quebec. The project, which could generate up to one gigawatt, represents a three billion dollar investment in the region and spans over 700 square kilometers. This development also includes First Nations marking a step towards economic reconciliation.

The project aligns with Hydro Quebec's strategic shift towards collaborating with communities from the outset. In the United States,