Climate Chronicles

Collecting and monitoring analytics is one thing, but it’s what you do with all that data that really counts. 

In this episode of the Climate Chronicles podcast, i4SEE’s CEO Christopher Gray and Richard Distl, COO, explore the world of turbine analytics and how they turn data into results.  

Christopher and Richard pull insights from their vast experience in the wind industry and explore ways that data could help to improve processes and save time and resources.  

Key Moments: 

• Turning good ideas into actionable business processes 
• The biggest industry challenges 
• How to use AI to free up human resources 
• What “minding the gap” means in data analytics 
• Why we need more openness about data  
• Why innovation needs pragmatism 

Key Links: 

• i4SEE: https://www.i4see.com/  
• Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-distl-0065a1264/ 
• Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-gray-76b3a616/  

There’s so much more to turbine condition monitoring than vibration measurements. As wind turbine design and monitoring technology evolves, the potential to collect more data to predict faults is increasing.  

To discuss the extent of condition monitoring of wind turbines in today’s industry, we welcomed Michael Stone, Senior Manager of Reliability Engineering at RWE Clean Energy, to the podcast. 

We discuss Michael’s career, his thoughts on failure detection, how technology can help solve some of the issues in the industry, and the challenges of maintenance. 

Key Moments: 

• How the wind industry differs from oil and gas 
• The top drivers of value in failure detection 
• When early detection doesn’t always make sense 
• The problem with bigger wind turbines 
• Technology that could solve some of the maintenance gaps in the industry 
• The biggest disconnects in the industry 
• How prescriptive vs. predictive maintenance differs 
• Why the industry doesn’t properly understand loading issues 
• Challenges in the wind industry  

Key Links:  

• SkySpecs: https://skyspecs.com/  
• RWE Clean Energy: https://www.rwe.com/en/the-group/rwe-clean-energy/  
• Connect with Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelestone/ 

What role do utility companies have to play in the renewable energy industry?  

In this episode of Climate Chronicles, we invited Chuck Conlen, VP of Renewable Energy at DTE Energy, to share his perspectives on the industry and details about the important work that his team has been doing to ensure the future of reliable renewable assets.  

DTE Energy made its first strides in the renewables industry around 15 years ago. Today, they have a portfolio of around 2,500 to 3,000 megawatts, predominantly in wind power but also solar energy as well.   

Chuck explores the challenges in the industry, the technologies that will shape the future, and how legislation is helping to make renewable energy investment more lucrative.  

Key Moments: 

• How DTE invests in renewables 
• A day in the life of a VP of Renewable Energy 
• Development challenges in wind power  
• Why there’s uncertainty in the solar energy industry right now 
• The reality of reshoring plans  
• Challenges and opportunities of getting into wind power 
• Why repowering is a big focus for DTE Energy 
• Why storage is key to the future of renewables 
• What DTE Energy is doing to help the labor shortage  

Key Links: 

• Connect with Chuck on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-conlen-b5622b11/  
• DTE Energy: https://www.dteenergy.com/  

Reliability and maintenance play key roles in managing wind assets. It’s not enough to simply invest in the latest technology or brand new turbines — sooner or later, these new assets will require upgrades, maintenance, and repairs. How we manage those repairs can make all the difference to output, safety, and reliability.  

To learn more about what goes into managing reliability and maintenance, we invited Megan Diba, Reliability Engineering Team Leader for BP Wind Energy, to the Climate Chronicles podcast. Megan explains the responsibilities of her role, what a reliability engineer actually does, the challenges in the industry, and much more.  

Key Moments: 

• Megan explains the typical responsibilities in her role  
• The top challenges in maintaining wind assets  
• Why we should be wary of favoring bigger wind turbines 
• Why maintenance requires good data  
• Why a proactive approach to maintenance is best 
• Tools Megan would like to see in the future 
• Megan and her team’s biggest focuses for the future 
• Why communication with OEMs needs to improve 
• What Megan’s most excited about in the industry  

Key Links:  

• BP Wind: https://www.bp.com/en_us/united-states/home/what-we-do/gas-and-low-carbon-energy/wind.html  

The work certainly doesn’t stop at construction when it comes to renewable energy assets. For the wind industry, there’s a great deal of management and maintenance behind the scenes to keep assets performing at their best.  

We wanted to learn more about what it takes to properly manage a portfolio of wind energy assets, the challenges of doing so, how blade engineers collaborate with OEMs, and what lessons we can all learn in the industry.  

In this episode of the Climate Chronicles podcast, we welcomed Pragna Shashidhar, Senior Wind Blade Engineer at ENGIE North America, to talk more about the operations and maintenance of wind assets. She shares insights into what a wind blade engineer does, the complexities of the role, the importance of good data analysis, and much more.   

Key moments: 

• What a senior blade engineer is responsible for 
• Why maintenance is essential 
• How blade engineers make maintenance decisions 
• Lessons learned from collaborating with OEMs 
• The current challenges of scaling in the wind industry  
• Technology gaps in the renewable energy industry 
• Potential challenges in the future   

Key links: 

• ENGIE: https://www.engie.com/en  
• SkySpecs: https://skyspecs.com/  

What does development in the renewable energy industry look like today? 

We asked Pauline Searles, Senior Project Engineer at Enel North America, to join this episode of Climate Chronicles to provide their perspective. 

In this episode, Pauline shares some insights into their role and the kind of projects they work on. We also hear their thoughts on the importance of battery storage, the biggest challenges in the industry, why we need to prepare to recycle renewable assets, and much more.  

Key moments: 

• How Pauline got involved in the renewable energy industry 
• Why diversity in renewable technology is needed 
• Why battery storage is such a hot topic  
• The top challenges in the industry 
• Challenges in Pauline’s work 
• Why we need to work on better turbine recycling opportunities 
• How technology has helped projects complete faster  
• Pauline’s average workday and processes  

Key links: 

Connect with Pauline on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinesearles/  

Enel: https://www.enel.com/  

SkySpecs: https://skyspecs.com/

What role do artificial intelligence and machine learning play in the modern wind industry?

As machine learning and AI become more commonplace in data analysis and automation, we wanted to discuss how this affects the wind industry specifically.

We invited SkySpecs’ Shweta Khushu, Engineering Manager, Computer Vision, and Akshay Iyer, Computer Vision Engineer - Full stack, to this episode of Climate Chronicles, to dig deeper into this. Tune in to learn about the benefits, challenges, and opportunities of using AI in the wind industry, plus some tips on the best practices for deploying AI solutions.

Key Points:

• How Akshay and Shweta first began working with SkySpecs
• An average day in their work
• How their roles have changed since they began their careers
• Projects Akshay and Shweta have worked on using machine learning and AI
• The benefits of using AI in the wind industry
• The challenges of using AI and machine learning
• The top opportunities in the wind industry for AI
• How SkySpecs uses AI
• How working in the wind industry is a change from Akshay’s healthcare background
• Predictions for AI in the wind industry
• The best practices for deploying AI and machine learning

Key Links:

Connect with Shweta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shweta-khushu/?originalSubdomain=ca

Connect with Akshay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshayiyer9/ 

Each year brings new challenges and opportunities for the renewable energy industry. And 2023 is no different. We spoke with Laura Sherman, President of Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, about the Michigan EIBC’s energy innovation plans for the next year.

In this episode of Climate Chronicles, Laura highlights what her organization does, her role and route into the industry and what the state of Michigan needs to do to achieve its energy goals by 2030 and 2050.

Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council’s mission is to grow Michigan’s advanced energy economy by fostering opportunities for innovation and business growth, and offering a unified voice in creating a business-friendly environment for the advanced energy industry in Michigan.

They work to build public and political support for advanced energy in Michigan. Their team offers Michigan energy policy expertise and translates member priorities into high-level policy wins that improve the business environment for advanced energy companies in Michigan.

Tune in to hear more about the inner workings of Michigan EIBC from President Laura Sherman.

Key points

• Laura’s introduction to the energy industry
• How the EIBC prioritize policy
• The inner workings of the EIBC
• How the EIBC brings communities together
• Who they help
• Laura Sherman – a day in the life
• Big policy issues currently
• The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan
• How the IRA could help the EIBC
• What the state needs to do to hit 2030 and 2050 renewable energy goals
• The EIBC’s 2023 initiative

Key links

• Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council: https://mieibc.org/
• Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurassherman/

Every role in the renewable energy industry has its challenges. But they each have their own unique and exciting opportunities too. 

On this episode of Climate Chronicles, we speak with Jeremy Law, Vice President of Commercial Asset Management at Longroad Energy. He reveals his route into the industry, and his role at Longroad, and lays out what he believes are the key challenges and opportunities within renewable asset management in 2023. 

Longroad Energy, headquartered in Boston, MA, are a renewable energy developer focused on the development, ownership, operation and asset management of wind and solar energy projects throughout North America. 

They were formed in 2016 by the former executive team of First Wind Energy and have a proven track record of developing “economically sensible and competitive wind and solar projects”.  

Tune into the episode for fascinating stories, insights, and advice from Jeremy today. 

Key points: 

• An overview of Jeremy’s route into the sector 
• Insights into his current role at Longroad  
• How renewable energy has changed since he left Clipper in 2012 
• Have the challenges changed across the past 12 years? 
• The most pressing challenges facing Jeremy and his team today 
• Why it’s vital to keep transitions simple when companies change hands 
• An outline of Longroad Energy’s strategies 
• Jeremy Law’s typical working day 
• What Jeremy wishes Sarah and Josh had asked 
• Applying learnings from different areas of the industry across the board 
• Why people still are (and always will be) the most important thing 

Key links: 

• Longroad Energy: https://www.longroadenergy.com/ 

Connect with Jeremy on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-law-771b46b/ 

What are the top technology trends impacting the wind energy industry? We spoke with Nicholas Gaudern, Chief Technology Officer at PowerCurve, about his work, his insights into turbine monitoring, asset management, AEP loss, and more. Josh Goryl, Chief Revenue Officer at SkySpecs also joins to co-host with Sarah Leitz, our Chief Marketing Officer. 

PowerCurve is a Danish company that provides aerodynamic solutions for wind energy around the world. They produce aerodynamic upgrades for blades, including add-on devices to improve performance, such as vortex generators. The company also provides more advisory and consultancy services to help OEMs and operators understand and improve their assets.  

PowerCurve recently teamed up with SkySpecs to work on an AEP loss management tool that links real-world blade conditions with power performance loss.  

Tune in to hear more about the partnership, Nicholas’ work, and insights into technology solutions for blade condition management. 

Key points: 

• How vortex generators improve the performance of turbines 
• The business case for vortex generators 
• Why AEP loss is so important  
• Three things that can reduce AEP loss 
• Different Leading Edge Protection methods 
• What the partnership between SkySpecs and PowerCurve means 
• How we get performance data from turbines  
• Why we need real data, not assumptions on turbine condition 
• Why turbines don’t come with vortex generators as standard 
• Nicholas’ advice for colleagues in the wind industry 
• Why anything you can do to improve blade performance matters  

Key links: 

• PowerCurve: https://powercurve.dk/  
• SkySpecs and PowerCurve Team up, Providing Stronger Blade Analytics: https://skyspecs.com/skyspecs-and-powercurve-team-up-providing-stronger-blade-analytics/  
• Connect with Nicholas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-gaudern-22538493/   
• Connect with Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshgoryl/