Nicholas Gaudern, CTO at PowerCurve joins the show to discuss advanced blade upgrades that improve turbine performance and reduce noise. PowerCurve's technology helps operators make smart decisions about maintenance and upgrades. Gaudern explains why combining repairs with performance enhancements is a cost-effective strategy that benefits both operations and community relations.

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Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast Spotlight. I'm your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxon. Today, we're diving deep into the world of wind turbine aerodynamics and blade optimization with one of the industry's leading experts. Our guest is Nicholas Gaudern, the Chief Technology Officer at PowerCurve, a company that's revolutionizing how we approach wind turbine performance through advanced Aerodynamic solutions.

Now, Nicholas has over 15 years of industry experience and his journey includes significant roles at industry giants like Vestas, where he led the design of next generation blades. And as CTO of PowerCurve, Nicholas and his team are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in wind turbine optimization.

They've developed innovative solutions like AeroVista, which helps operators make data driven decisions about blade maintenance and upgrades. Their work spans from custom designed vortex generators to trailing edge serrations, all aimed at increasing AEP while reducing turbine noise. So please welcome to the Uptown Wind Energy Podcast Spotlight, Nicholas Gaudern.

Nicholas Gaudern: Thanks, Allen. Yeah, good to see you as well, Joe.

Allen Hall: We have a lot going on in the United States in terms of rotors on the ground. Variety of reasons, but anytime that Joel and I are running through the Midwest, we see rotors down, and when I run into those people, I always ask, why are you not putting arrow improvements on your blade?

It is the lowest cost way to do it. There's an opportunity there Nicholas?

Nicholas Gaudern: Yeah, there, there really is, and I find it very surprising as well, because whilst you can put upgrades on at lots of different points in a turbine's life cycle, if you do have that roach on the ground it just makes everyone's lives that bit easier, and also it's going to save you a lot of money on installation costs.

So yes, I think it's a great thing to be considering because you can be working on different parts of the blade at the same time. And if you're going to increase the AEP with those devices you put on, you can consider that as a way of paying for some of the other work you might be doing while the rotor's down.

Allen Hall: Yeah. And we've run into many operators that have talked to us about noise of all things in the middle of the United States where there's not a lot of neighbors to them. But neighbors are concerned about the noise produced by the turbines and in very windy places. Yeah. like Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, there is blade noise.

It's there. And most of the equipment out in service does not have trailing edge serrations. And I'm beginning to wonder if that is trying to be, if there's needs to be an adjustment made there that you may not technically need trailing edge serrations for noise quieting, but to be a good neighbor.