This episode covers Vestas's manufacturing growth in Italy and Siemens Gamesa's quarterly results showing both gains and ongoing challenges. The hosts explore how the U.S. election results could reshape renewable energy markets, with discussions ranging from grid infrastructure to natural gas expansion. And an in-depth look at quality control concerns at GE Vernova's LM Wind Power blade manufacturing facility in Canada, where allegations of falsified quality control data have emerged.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

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Allen Hall: An endangered sea turtle that was found about a year ago, some 5, 000 miles from its native waters, has been released back into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Houston Zoo. The sea turtle was found off the coast of, guess where? The Netherlands, after becoming entangled in the net of a commercial fishing boat.

The zoo said the turtle apparently was carried by currents until it was found, and the U. S. National Fish and Wildlife Service secured the turtle's return. Guys, there's a really interesting bit. Some fishermen somewhere realized that this turtle didn't belong off the coast of the Netherlands and decided to return it.

Of all things. They took it to the Rotterdam Zoo the Rotterdam Zoo where it was nursed back the health. And then had a, must have a first class flight back to Houston where it was put back in the Gulf of Mexico. But this little turtle went a long ways. 5, 000 miles is quite a ride, right?

Joel Saxum: I can't imagine it was doing very well in the cold water up there either.

Cause right now, even now the Gulf of Mexico is 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, he, the

Allen Hall: turtle at some point had to know it wasn't in the Bahamas anymore, right? It's not gonna swim back from there.

Rosemary Barnes: I saw a story recently about a king penguin that that swam from Antarctica to Australia to Perth.

It was it's not that far, I think it was like 3, 000 kilometers or maybe a little bit more, but similar thing of yeah. Animal just, just the kind of point in the direction and then just keep going until they reach land. It's some decent persistence.

Allen Hall: Isn't it crazy when you think about how animals have moved around the planet?

And then you, that's impossible. And then Rosemary says there's a penguin that's got about 1, 500 miles, just taking a light swim.

Joel Saxum: That's crazy. There's a book about this called Super Navigators, and it's really fascinating, actually, to be honest with you.

Allen Hall: This turtle is back home in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which is a great story, right?

Gulf of Mexico for the winter. 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. Thanks A major expansion of wind turbine manufacturing is underway in Toronto, Italy as Vestas begins production of its V236 15MW offshore wind blades. The facility will produce 115. 5 meter blades capable of powering 20, 000 European households each year.

The expansion, supported by EU recovery funds, will create 1, 300 new jobs in the region. The Port of Toronto has granted Vestas a nine year concession to use its logistics platform, establishing the port as a strategic hub for wind energy component manufacturing and distribution.

This week on News Flash, Vattenfall invests 5 billion euros in Germany through 2028, Octopus Energy has surpassed two billion dollars in offshore wind investments, and the Asian Development Bank has secured groundbreaking sovereign guarantees for climate finance.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

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Welcome to Uptime News Flash. Industry news lightning fast. Your hosts, Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, and Phil Totaro discuss the latest deals, mergers, and alliances that will shape the future of wind power. News Flash is brought to you by IntelStor. For market intelligence that generates revenue, visit www. intelstor com.

Allen Hall: First up, Swedish utility Vattenfall is investing 5 billion euros in Germany through 2028, showing major commitment after selling their Berlin heating business. The company plans to build 500 megawatts of solar parks and 300 megawatts of large batteries annually. Two major offshore wind parks, the Nordelake 1 and 2, will add 1.

6 gigawatts of wind capacity. And they're also investing 500 million euros in EV charging infrastructure. Wow, Phil, Vattenfall's going a little crazy in Germany at the moment. This is a big investment.

Philip Totaro: Well, and it's coming at a kind of an interesting time because, there's been some, uh, hard to say whether it's mild or moderate disarray in the German government at this point particularly in terms of the level of support that is, is gonna be provided long term to, to renewables.

But Vattenfall at least understands and appreciates the fact that, they've got a pipeline that, that's pretty big besides the Nordlicht 1 and 2 projects. I think they've got an additional 1. 5 gigawatts of onshore wind and or solar and, and battery pipeline That they have in, in Germany.

So, they're, they're really swinging for the fences here and committing a rather large amount of capital at 5 billion Euro. So that's it, it's, again, it, it could be challenging short term timeframe, but long term they're positioning themselves to be, as big of a player in, in Germany as they, they are in some of the other markets outside of, of Sweden.

Where they operate.

Joel Saxum: I think a big part of this five billion euros as well as that Nordlicht one and two for 1. 6 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, because that's just a lot of money to build that big of wind farms offshore. But when you look onshore in Germany, it's a bit harder to develop wind.

You have permitting issues and those kind of things, but the tracks of land, it's not like we're here in the United States where we can put 100, 150 turbines out. The tracks of land are smaller, The setback limits are a lot bigger. They have different rules, right? It's a little operations and maintenance is a bit more difficult, more expensive because you have, it's like you have to test your lightning protection systems every two years.

You, you have to have multiple ice detection systems. If you're within a certain setback of a road, there's, there's all kinds of little nuances in Germany there. But Vattenfall clearly sees the the advantages of doing some business there. And I know that Germany as a whole. Like you said, Phil, they're in a little bit of a turmoil right now, but they need it.

So good on them.

Allen Hall: In our second story, Octopus Energy has surpassed two billion dollars in offshore wind investment...

Allen and Joel sit down with Jonathan Cole, CEO of Corio Generation and Chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council, for an illuminating discussion on the future of offshore wind energy. Cole shares invaluable insights on navigating regulatory challenges across multiple markets, building sustainable supply chains, and securing project financing. He also emphasizes the critical role of community engagement through what he calls "social license" in developing successful offshore wind projects.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

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Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy's brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow.

Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, joined by my co host, Joel Saxum. Today, we're honored to have with us Jonathan Cole, a visionary leader in the global offshore wind industry. and a key figure driving the transition to sustainable energy. Jonathan is the CEO of Corio Generation, a global offshore wind powerhouse, launched in April of 2022.

As a portfolio manager of Macquarie Asset Management operating independently, Corio has quickly established itself as a major player in the renewable energy sector. Under Jonathan's leadership, Corio has amassed one of the world's largest offshore wind development portfolios, boasting over 30 gigawatts of projects in various stages of development across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas.

Jonathan's influence extends far beyond his role at Corio. He currently serves as the chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council, GWEC. and his industry expertise has been recognized through numerous leadership positions. These include chairing the Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organization, the UK's Offshore Wind Program Board, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapults Industry Advisory Group.

He has also been a board member of Renewable UK and a member of the UK's Offshore Wind Industry Council. Before joining Corio, Jonathan played a pivotal role in shaping the offshore wind landscape at eBird DLA from 2010 to 2021, he spearheaded the creation and growth of Ebert Della's offshore wind business, transforming it into a market leader with approximately 14 billion Euros invested a project pipeline exceeding 30 gigawatts, and a team of 800 professionals spanning four continents and 11 countries.

Jonathan's a very busy person and we appreciate his time. Jonathan, welcome to the program. Great to be here with you. You've been a busy person. I've been watching your LinkedIn account in all the countries and continents you've been on over the last couple of months. You're busy in offshore wind and you were just in New York for the climate week.

What was some of the outcome from those sessions that you attended?

Jonathan Cole: Yeah, it's a busy time for offshore wind and busy time for me, particularly. And I was in New York last week really with two hats on. One was with my Corio CEO hat on because we've got a big project out there in New York Attentive Energy.

So I was spending some time with the team out there and hearing all the great work they're doing. But also I'm the chair of the Global Wind Energy Council, so I was out there with that hat on, helping on the advocacy piece more generally. So it was a really interesting week. I think New York Climate Week is a really importa...

This week on Uptime Power-Up, a method from Vestas for modifying control of a wind turbine using load probability, a blade tip swap-out for Cypress turbines from GE, and a wind turbine tower with solar panels installed.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com

Allen Hall: Welcome to Power Up, the Uptime podcast focused on the new, hot off the press technology that can change the world. Follow along with me, Alan Hall, and idasaur's Phil Totaro, as we discuss the weird, the wild, and the game changing ideas that will charge your energy future.

Well, our first idea is from Vestas, and it is an idea where they're monitoring the Turbine tower loads for natural vibration frequency, and you say, well, why would you want to do that? Well, of course, as things change on a wind turbine, maybe something goes wrong. Those frequencies of vibration are going to change, and the system will detect those and say, hey, something is wrong.

Here's probably what it is, which is a smart way of detecting failure modes in the turbine fill. But the other thing it could do, is push the turbine harder if it's not being driven hard enough and creating enough power.

Philip Totaro: Yeah, and this is actually really fascinating because, again, this might not sound like the world's most revolutionary, innovation, but it's a practical solution to a challenge that is faced out there in the field when you're operating a wind farm.

And specifically, in addition to just monitoring the, the tower loads and vibration over time, they have the option to monitor the max extreme load in relation to the original design load limit and readjust that max extreme load value over time as there's an evolution of the, the.

Mechanical performance of, of the turbine. And that to me is, is really clever way of approaching this challenge of having additional safety factor. Or as we see in the United States where turbines get run a lot harder. Than they were potentially designed for. Sometimes because companies are trying to maximize their production tax, credit revenue.

This is a way for a company like Vestus to keep an eye on whether or not they're exceeding a. Safety criteria, or by how much are you exceeding a safety criteria of, the design load limit versus the max extreme load limit, which will necessarily change over time. As components wear and, and as the tower sees certain load cases on it.

So I, I like this one a lot. I think, again, this is a really practical and clever thing. It might not be, or sound like the world's most revolutionary. Invention ever, but I, I like stuff like this. This is a really great one.

Joel Saxum: I think it's a functional way of ensuring the safety and operation of the turbine.

Right. The, the ability to adjust and to understand what kind of loads are being sensed and of course, When we talk about load changes in turbines, it's every component is completely different, right? The loads in the blades and fatigue loads over time and what can be and can't be exerted on them. To, to look, like a 20 year old blade is a lot different than a one year old blade and a 20 year old piece of drivetrain is a lot different than a 20, a one year old piece of drivetrain.

So adjusting those load limits by calculation and understanding as the turbine ages and operations change. It's something that should actually absolutely be d...

This week, Allen Hall and Joel Saxum explore Suzlon Energy's record-breaking quarter, featuring a 5.1 GW order book and 96% earnings increase. They detail plans for the Wind Energy O&M Australia conference in Melbourne, aimed at sharing global technical expertise. Allen and Joel discuss the game-changing discovery of America's largest lithium deposit in Arkansas, and spotlight Michigan's Isabella Wind Farm project, which powers major automotive companies while generating substantial community benefits.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com

Allen Hall: Well, Joel, we just don't seem to have the luck of some people, I'm telling you. Because a gentleman down in North Carolina found a 20 bill laying on the ground outside of a gas station and used it to buy, of all things, a scratch off lottery ticket. And that ticket was worth one million dollars.

Joel Saxum: You know, Allen, sometimes they say, you gotta play to win.

And if someone, if some, by some luck of chance, you get 20 and it's not, you're playing with the house's money, then. I think that, uh, maybe we need to just keep our heads on the ground a little bit more.

Allen Hall: He had the opportunity to buy all kinds of lottery tickets. I don't know if you go into a gas station in North Carolina, there's several kinds there.

He couldn't find the one that he wanted. So he ended up buying just one that seemed okay. And that was the winning one. So if he had chosen the ticket that they had, the ticket that he wanted, he wouldn't be a million dollars richer. Now, the real funny thing about this is they asked this gentleman, well, what are you going to do with all that money?

And it says, we are going to head straight to Golden Corral and eat everything they've got. So he's gonna spend like 40 bucks worth of it? It's hard to spend a million dollars at Golden Corral. But, however, I, it did force me to take a look at the dessert menu. Cause that's one thing about Golden Corral is that they have a lot of desserts.

It's like, it's a big dessert bar thing. And If you, I will read some of these to you and go, wow, okay, this is not bad, right? Chocolate dip marshmallow skewers. Come on. I'm out on that. No way. So they have cakes and pies. They always have cakes and pies. All right. All right. Right? Pumpkin pie, peanut butter pie.

The Sweet Home Carolina cake, which is popular. Uh, carrot cake. Are you a carrot cake fan? I am, but it has to have good frosting. It's gotta be a cream cheese frosting. Otherwise, I'm out. Carrot cake is an acquired taste. I think it's an American taste, weirdly enough. Now, do you want it with walnuts? No walnuts.

No nuts. I want it clean and clear. And I have had one with a little bit of ginger in it that was

Joel Saxum: really good.

Allen Hall: Oh, the ginger is terrific in carrot cake. I have to admit, I'm a recent convert on that one because I thought, there's no reason to put ginger into a cake. What are we doing? But it is quite good.

So this, this gentleman is going to be a golden corral quite a while. I wonder what the calorie intake is going to be in his life for the next couple of years.

Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Halladay, and I'll be joined by my Uptime co hosts after these news headlines. Vattenfall has expanded its landfill ban to include more wind turbine components b...

This week on News Flash, Allen, Joel and Phil discuss DOF Group's acquisition of Maersk Supply Service, TotalEnergies' growth in the renewables market, and Brookfield's acquisition of minority stake in four offshore wind farms owned by Ørsted.

Welcome to Uptime News Flash. Industry news lightning fast. Your hosts, Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, and Phil Totaro discuss the latest deals, mergers, and alliances that will shape the future of wind power. News Flash is brought to you by IntelStor. For market intelligence that generates revenue, visit www.intelstor.com.

Allen Hall: Joel, Norwegian offshore supply vessel company Dof Group has completed the acquisition of Denmark based Maersk Supply Service, which will be renamed Dof Denmark. The deal expands Dof's fleet to 78 modern offshore and subsea vessels, including 65 owned vessels, with the addition of Maersk Supply Service's 22 vessels.

The combined company now has a workforce of more than 5, 000 employees and will continue offering integrated offshore services for both oil and gas and the growing offshore wind market. So you're seeing big players here, Joel, in offshore wind support. This is one of them.

Joel Saxum: Yeah. From my past in offshore oil and gas, DOF is, they're in on every contract, right?

They're a big company. They do things well and they do it right. Norwegians in the offshore world, you're always, you always look at them like the cream of the crop. Whenever they show up on site, they're expensive. And there's some specialists sometimes. But they are, they're always getting things done correctly.

That's why people value them no matter where you are in the world. And DoF is a country, or a company, that values them. Full of all Norwegians. So, them grabbing Maersk, of course. The Norway Denmark connection of cousins or depending on which side you're talking to. Little brother, big brother. It's a, it's an easy tie up.

Maersk, of course. A fantastic company with a lot of assets running all over the world. But also looking to you never know what they're going to do with this capital. Diversify a little bit try some other things. So Dof grabbing Maersk makes absolute sense to me. And if it was one company that would be buying some big chunks of Maersk assets as in Maersk supply service, Dof would be the one.

Allen Hall: Total Energies has reported significant growth in its renewable energy operations for Q3 of 2024 with total power production reaching 29. 7 terawatt hours. Up 17 percent year over year. The company's renewable power production increased by 45 percent to 19. 6 terawatt hours with net power generation capacity up 36 percent to 21.

6 gigawatts. Total energies reached a gross renewable capacity of 24. 2 gigawatts with solar dominating at 15. 6 gigawatts followed by onshore wind. At 5. 9 gigawatts. Phil, Total Energy is just becoming a huge player in renewables and the growth in the Q3 is amazing.

Philip Totaro: Yeah, and what's really fascinating is that with all the other oil and gas companies pulling away and pulling back from Investments in renewables totals remained committed to it and has always been one of the bigger, oil and gas and utility companies in Europe besides maybe, stack craft event fall to, well, you could say Orsted maybe but, they, they've remained committed to a renewables portfolio and have, based on their presence in the utility business around the world even in, as far foreign places as, as some of the Asia Pacific islands they've, they've had and own and operate renewable assets for, for more than a decade, going on, 15, almost 20 years at this point.

So it's, it's good to see that they're. Not only committed, but they're actually seeing results because one of the reasons why a lot of these other oil and gas companies pulled out is because they were rationalizing that, hey, we can get better financial returns through oil and gas investments. Totaro's making a go of it with renewables and actual...

In this episode, Peter Winther, Key Account Manager at R&D Test Systems, discusses the construction of the world's most powerful main bearing test facility at the Lindø Offshore Renewable Center in Denmark. Winther provides fascinating insights into the engineering challenges and scale of this groundbreaking 25-megawatt facility, including details about its massive concrete foundation and the specialized testing capabilities designed to simulate decades of wear in just months.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com

Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy's brightest innovators. This is the Progress Powering Tomorrow.

Allen Hall: Today we're joined by Peter Winther, Key Account Manager at R& D Test Systems, a company that's revolutionizing how we test wind turbine components. R& D Test Systems is currently building the world's most powerful main bearing test facility at the Lindo Offshore Renewable Center in Denmark. They have already delivered the largest halt test bench for nacelle testing at the same location and now these facilities are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in wind turbine testing with capabilities up to 25 megawatts.

Peter brings extensive experience in large scale test system development and has been instrumental in multiple groundbreaking projects at LORC. Peter, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. All right, so you're building a 25 megawatt main bearing test system. Facility. That's big.

That's very big. So just give it a sense of scale. How big is a 25 megawatt bearing?

Peter Winther: The bearing itself, I would guess the inside diameter is more than four meters in a typical bearing constellation. The test bench on the other high, on the other side is also relatively big to be able to break that bearing or bearings, depending on what you're testing.

The test bench itself pretty big. First of all, features a pretty decent size concrete block or foundation at the bottom, which is roundabout 35 meters long. It took 30 hours to cast the whole thing. It was a one continuous process. We had 280 trucks coming in and they were coming in every six minutes.

And so we basically took all, I think, concrete production from Fyn, which is the island where Ålensø or the test bench is being realized. And then we had back off plants in case the plant went down because if you start casting, you can't stop, you need to go ahead. You can't have a cold joint.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's the foundation itself. An essential thing when you make a foundation like this is also to make sure it cools in the right manner. You can't just cast it and then go away and then come back in an hour or a week and then all is fine because then you risk not having.

The right material properties throughout the foundation. So we had a more than one megawatt cooling system, making sure that the cross-sectional temperatures throughout different cross sec cross-sections and the foundation was right and not too much of a difference, so we didn't get cracks and creeping and unwanted properties at the end because you, you can't really get rid of it.

Allen Hall: When you take this project on, how many engineering challenges are there? Obviously building the. Concrete Foundation by itself is a massive undertaking. How many, how do you break this down and how many big hurdles ...

This week on Power-Up, we discuss Siemens Gamesa's method for stabilizing wind turbine blades by installing closeout plates. Then Vestas and ZF's idea to replace the metal torque tube in the gearbox with a plastic piece, protecting from current. And finally, an Enercon patent for painting blades in an ombre pattern to lessen visual disturbances.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com

Allen Hall: Welcome to Power Up, the uptime podcast focused on the new, hot off the press technology that can change the world. Follow along with me, Allen Hall, and IntelStor's Phil Totaro, as we discuss the weird, the wild, and the game changing ideas that will charge your energy future.

All right guys, our first idea is what's turbine blades, and it's an idea from Siemens Gamesa, and it In patent form, as they describe it here, it's what they call a novel approach to stabilizing wind turbine blades without the need for traditional trailing edge beam designs. But what they're really doing is they're installing closeout plates on the, between the aft spar and the trailing edge.

So, This idea is pretty much making a wind turbine blade look a lot like an airplane wing, Phil.

Philip Totaro: Yeah, especially like an older style airplane wing. So those that aren't familiar with the closeout plate, it's like a rib design that has this, vertical element at different longitudinal locations throughout the Kind of the, the max cord section and in inner portion with the exception of like the, the immediate root section of the blade.

But it's, it's interesting to me, besides just the, the general concept here, the timing of this was fascinating to me because they filed for this patent back in April of 2024. And the patent has now published in October and the question Is, is this a potential fix to a problem?

Is this what's this really doing?

Allen Hall: Well, it's stopping torsion is what it's doing, Phil. It's preventing the blade from twisting too much, which makes me think of a couple of blades that I'm familiar with that have torsion problems. Joel?

Joel Saxum: Well, if you look at the image here, so I've crawled around in quite a few blades doing RCA's and failures, and you're always looking for failure modes, so you start getting into a different mindset of when you're crawling around in them.

But In multiple blades that I've been in, there's an, what looks like an extra shear web in the, in some of like the max cord region and stuff like that, just to make sure that you keep that part of the shell supported and then that structure rigid there. And in this design, they're removing that extra shear web and putting these closeout plates in there.

And it is exactly like you guys say, the design looks like an airplane wing with a bunch of ribs in it. And to me, in my mind I'm, I'm not a, trained structural engineer, but from engineering principles and just kind of physics and forces and a little bit of knowledge there, this to me looks like it could solve some, some pretty big issues.

However, in maintenance, that makes things a little bit more difficult because maintenance and construction, because it's harder to place these things in construction, of course, and to get them right. We already sometimes have a hard enough time placing shear webs and getting those right. Now you're adding perpendicular components and multiple ...

In this episode, Allen, Joel, Phil and Rosemary analyze why 38% of Australian wind farms are struggling with profitability despite stable PPAs. They explore how solar saturation, coal plant inflexibility, and maintenance contract structures impact returns. Plus, the team examines BlueFloat Energy's withdrawal from New Zealand and what recent auction results in Maine reveal about the broader challenges facing floating offshore wind development.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com

Allen Hall: It is almost fall. I guess it is fall.

Joel Saxum: It's almost November.

Allen Hall: I was just outside today. It was like 70 degrees outside. It felt like the end of summer, not the beginning of fall. But we're almost in winter. We got another month or two before we hit the official start of winter, which means all the bears up in my area are starting to thinking about hibernating.

But in the meantime, they're usually pretty hungry, trying to fatten up before the winter really hits. And This causes a lot of problems if you're around bears, and a lady in Montana had a problem where she went out to work in her pickup truck early in the morning and realized that it had been all torn apart by a black bear, of all things, which is the thing that I worry about the most around here.

At this time of year, when you're bringing in things from the house, and a bear shows up and says, Oh, there's groceries in the car, hops in, and then panics, which is what happened to this lady. The bear panics and just destroys the vehicle. And this has happened very close to us, actually. And not that long ago, it was this summer, where bears were walking in our driveway, walked right by my wife, she didn't even know it was there.

So it's serious that don't leave your car doors open. That's the one thing I remember in the fall. Don't leave your car doors open for any length of time. Otherwise, when you go back, you may have befriended a bear.

Philip Totaro: Allen, I've seen videos where they're opening car doors. So don't even think about, you can close the door and they're still gonna get in.

So I don't know, man. They're getting sophisticated out there.

Joel Saxum: I've got another tip for you from my childhood. You always put your trash out in the morning. Before your kids go to school, before you go to work, put your trash out in the morning on the street. Because if you put your trash out outside of your garage the night before, you're gonna end up with trash all over the ground and the garbage man won't pick it up and you, i.

e. me, as a young child, would have to go pick up all of our trash multiple times. So that's the hot tip.

Allen Hall: It's either the bears, the raccoons, or the wildcats. Those are the ones you really have to watch out for. Get a cat down in your neighborhood because it can do a lot of damage.

Joel Saxum: You would think that Allen lived in like Northwest territories or something and not in Massachusetts.

Allen Hall: I can walk out my back door and pet deer right now. That's how close they're sitting next to the house. Cause it's hunting season also where I am and all the deer join into town. They're hanging up. Yeah, there's, they're not stupid. Joel, he's in the Berkshires. This is the wilderness. This is about as wilderness as you can get in Massachusetts.

This week on Uptime News Flash, Avangrid sells the Kitty Hawk North lease area to Dominion Energy. In Saudia Arabia, the government signed two major localization agreements for wind energy steel towers. And Enerjisa Üretim has secured a major 1 billion 10 year term loan for the development of the YEKA 2 wind power plant.

Welcome to Uptime News Flash. Industry news lightning fast. Your hosts, Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, and Phil Totaro discuss the latest deals, mergers, and alliances that will shape the future of wind power. News Flash is brought to you by Intelstor. For market intelligence that generates revenue, visit www.intelstor.com.

Allen Hall: Well, Phil, Saudi Arabia has taken a significant step forward in its wind energy sector with the signing of two major localization agreements for wind energy steel towers. The agreements were signed by the Kingdom's Local Content and Government Procurement Authority with Al Yamama Steel Industries and Arabian International Company for Steel Structures.

These deals are part of a large initiative that saw 107 agreements and memorandums of understanding signed during the Energy Localization Forum in Riyadh, valued at approximately 27 billion. I didn't realize there was that much money in steel towers, Phil, but wow. These agreements are impressive.

Philip Totaro: Yeah, that that's for all agreements that they sign, not just the steel tower ones to, to clarify for everybody.

But the, the interesting tidbit with this is the fact that, they obviously have a couple of, wind farms now in Saudi Arabia, one that's operational, one under construction, as well as a demo turbine from GE from, from a few years back. And they're, they're at a point where they're really looking at the future of renewable energy for themselves in, in their domestic market so that they can, have more control over, how much oil they export and, and where they export it to moving forward.

So this gives them another knob to turn if they can use this renewable power for the power generation. Industry instead of leveraging their own oil abundant though it may be, they all recognize that there's a finite amount. So this is part of their efforts at domestication of part of the industry that they see as, as being an important element for them moving forward.

So much so that their public investment fund has, has, Also made moves in the past to, put money behind renewable ventures in in Europe and Asia and even looking at the United States as well. So, this is them taking a step forward in terms of their renewable energy market.

Joel Saxum: Yeah, Saudi Arabia keeps on basically reinventing itself and, and morphing into something that it wasn't in the past, which is very interesting. I, for one, I follow the, the Neom project very closely because it's really interesting to me. So they're spending a lot of money. I mean, they even went as far as to lure a lot of the PGA players away for their own golf league.

And now they're setting up with Dana White from the UFC, they're setting up their own boxing league. So they're doing a lot of things. They're taking advantage of, of course, the money they have now to try and build what their economy is for the future. And, they have been a classically oil and gas economy.

And, and that's where a lot of their sovereign wealth comes from. So they have the capabilities to make large structures and invest in, in, in industry. So going to steel towers for wind makes absolute sense for them.

Allen Hall: Avangrid has successfully closed the sale of its Kitty Hawk North offshore wind lease area to Dominion Energy.

The transaction was completed for 160 million dollars, comprising a lease acquisition payment of 117 million plus development cost reimbursement. While selling the northern section, Avangrade retains ownership of Kitty Hawk South, which has the potential to deliver 2. 4 gigawatts of power to North Carolina, Virginia,