A train collided with a wind turbine blade while in transport on a flat-bed truck. It was a scary situation, and fortunately no one was hurt. But why did it happen? Sea Floor mapping drone technology is improving - what will this mean for offshore wind? We also discuss the Jones Act being invoked in wind installations off the U.S. coast, and whether or not thermoset composites can actually be re-used.

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! 

Transcript - EP77

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If you're wind turbines or do for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a strike tape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan Blewett.

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. All right, welcome back to the Side podcast. I'm your co-host and blew it on today's show. We are going to talk a little bit about the construction process and some of the things that can go wrong, unfortunately.

You know, we've got a recent story of a train colliding with a truck carrying a wind turbine blade. So this is obviously bring a big spotlight to, you know, just some of the difficult logistics and the overall sort of construction environment where there's so many pieces involved, so much going on.

We'll talk a little bit about that today. We're talking a little more about wind turbine blade recycling. Vestas has an initiative, as does Siemens, Gamesa for the Future. We'll talk about the Jones Act as it's dealing with offshore wind, some sea floor mapping drones and a little bit about this offshore open hydro tidal turbine that's now being

removed from the ocean. And before we get going, I just wanna remind you that in the description on this podcast, you'll find uptime tech news, which is our weekly newsletter update for our podcast and other great news are on the website if you want to stay updated with everything.

Definitely jump into the links, whether you're on YouTube or Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and sign up for uptime tech news. Like I said, we want to keep you updated that way. You have a great newsletter from us every Thursday morning, depending on where you are in the world, just to keep you up to date.

And you'll also find Rosemary Barnes's YouTube channel, where she is continuing to put out great renewable energy content. So Rosemary and Allan are here with us. So let's start with this train, Rosemary. How did you feel seeing this train collide with this poor wind turbine blade driver?

Yeah, I felt really sick. And in the the first view of it that I watched, the the guy who stuck taking the film is just going, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. And that is like exactly mirrored what I was saying in my head.

So I can't imagine what he was. But the truck driver was thinking, as you know, he's trying to get out of there and then the train comes. And then Allan was kind enough to send me a second angle of it from behind.

So I really got the full, full 3D effect. And it's just absolutely shocking, isn't it? But I was so I was so happy to say that no one was injured somehow. No one was injured in that accident except for the know wind turbine blade.

MingYang just released info on its new model, the 16MW MySE 16.0-242, sweeping a 242m area, with 118m blades. It's huge and another surge forward in turbine size. We also discuss gearbox failures and wear issues, as well as solutions that may help, including offerings from Poseidon Systems that monitor wear debris. Plus, how green is blue hydrogen? Why is grey hydrogen, well, grey? Rosemary shares insights on hydrogen, including an explanation of Liebrich's ladder. Cover Photo is a copyright of MingYang Smart Energy Group Co., LTD used under fair use.

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! 

Transcript - MingYang's 16MW Turbine; Gearbox Failures & Monitoring; Plus, What's a Hydrogen Ladder?

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If you're wind turbines or do for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a strikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan BlueT.

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. All right, welcome back to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm Dan Blewett on today's show. First, we can shout a little bit about some big news from MingYang

They've released a 16 megawatt offshore turbine that they're going to hope is going to be in service in a couple of years. So we'll talk about some of the I mean, the thing is gigantic and obviously now displaces the Halifax and the Siemens Gamesa.

Their top turbines as far as size. We'll talk at length about gearboxes today, some about gearbox failures. Also an interesting where debris monitoring system from Poseidon. We'll talk a little bit about what we can do to make those gearbox maintenance periods, you know, extend a little bit longer.

And then in our third segment today, we're gonna talk about hydrogen. Rosemarie's got a ton of stuff she wants to share and we're going to chat through how green is blue hydrogen. We'll talk through lyrics, hydrogen ladder and some interesting hot brick technology that could be used to store energy, not really hydrogen related, but also just energy

storage related. Before we get going. Be sure to subscribe in the show notes below to uptime tech news. That's our weekly newsletter and podcast update. So if you want to stay abreast of everything, wind energy definitely sign up for that.

You'll find the show notes and YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen. And obviously, our co-host Rosemary has a great YouTube channel, so you'll find links to that there as well. So let's get going. Rosemary, kick this to you.

So MingYang has a 16 megawatt offshore turbine. The MYSE 16.0-242. So they're going to it will sweep a 242 meter area. That's the rotor diameter, 118 meter long blades. And that's going to be a forty six thousand square meter swept area.

So, Rosemary, what are some of the challenges as these continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger, as are ever going to be a cap on on turbine size?

It's so funny because that's like the question that everyone's been talking about in our favor as far as far as I can tell. I know when I was working at ILM, every if someone had a 10 year or a 25 year working anniversary,

Chris Howell, Sr. VP of Recycling Operations at Veolia, joined us to talk about their partnership with GE Renewables for wind turbine blade recycling, in which blades can be made into both fuel for cement kilns and cement itself. With more and more blades reaching the end of their usable life, the problem of what to do with these massive composite structures is a growing one. Rather than bury blades in landfills, which caused a media uproar back in 2020, Veolia hopes to solve the logistical problems of transportation with their shredding techniques and more innovations still in the works.

🍃 Learn more from Veolia's partnership with GE here, and visit Veolia North America on the web.

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! 

Transcript: On Recycling Wind Turbine Blades & A Circular Economy

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If your wind turbines are due for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a strikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan BlueT.

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the Uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. All right, welcome back to the Uptime Podcast. I'm your co-host, Dan Blewett I'm joined here today by Allen Hall. No Rosemary Barnes today on the show.

She couldn't make it with her crazy Australian time zone. We love having on the show, but sometimes, you know, those 13 hour differences will get you. But look for her back on the show and next week. But today, we have an amazing guest.

Today, we are talking with Chris Howell from Veolia. He is the senior director of recycling operations there. He's also a Navy veteran and a graduate of the Navy. And nuclear program is a subject matter expert on mining, metals and power production.

And he's been with the oil for twenty seven years. So he knows the company inside and out. And we're going to be talking to him today about our hour, about their partnership with GE on shredding and recycling winter and blades into cement.

So, Allen what were some of your takeaways from today's talk with Chris Howell?

Well, Chris and Veolia have taken on a really large problem, which is as when turbines become decommissioned, what do you do with those massive blades? And currently, we are bearing in them in some parts of the world, like in Germany, the burying of blades is outlawed.

So we need to find another solution in the United States and across the world. And and Chris and Veolia have stepped up to to find a method and an economical method to take the existence of existing Blaize off the turbines, break them down, grind them up and and recycle them, put them reuse them for energy production or

creation of cement, which is just totally fascinating and a really unique engineering exercise. So this interview from an engineering standpoint is really cool.

Yeah. And, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, on the Web, in the public, in the media, if you will, just like, yeah, recycle these things, you know, like and they just like wash their hands of it.

Right. But it's really, really complicated. That's part of the reason everyone's trying to do more and more manufacturing on site, a new wind farms.

The U.S. Senate is proposing Tax Credits for manufacturing - will it work? Plus, business news - GE Stock, Orsted earnings, Vestas guidance and will Iberdrola spin off offshore? We also discuss how to develop young engineers, plus thermoplastic wind turbine blades and their lightning and manufacturing issues, something we didn't cover in episode 73.

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! 

Transcript EP74 | GE Stock Climbing? Thermoplastic Blades & Lightning, Plus Iberdrola, Orsted & U.S. Tax Credits

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If you're wind turbines or do for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a strike tape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan Blewett

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. So before we get going, let me remind you a thanks for being here be. You can sign up for Uptime Tech News, which is our weekly newsletter, where we'll shoot you a quick email of the new podcast.

Some other helpful links, you know, stuff that we find valuable all over the Web. So if you want to stay up and be a win insider. Definitely sign up in the show notes, whether you're listing on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher of today's podcast.

Let's talk about this tax credit. So it sounds like Senator Markey, who is from your neck of the woods, Allen and others are introducing a tax credit that's going to create a 30 percent investment for qualified facilities that manufacture when components for offshore here in the U.S..

And it looks like that will eventually be phased out between December twenty, twenty eight and completely around 20, 30. So, Alan, do you think this is going to work or are we going to be able to put up some of these facilities in the U.S.?

Well, big corporations will take that tax break immediately and hopefully put it to work. The question is who and where and how? It's easy to make proposals like this. And this is the trouble I think was sort of the Massachusetts delegation, because this comes up quite a bit where they want to make some world altering proposals.

And then you check up on six months later, nothing has happened. And it is super frustrating to watch this go into something I'm more familiar with, which is just offshore wind and wind turbines. Massachusetts itself doesn't have a lot of wind turbine manufacturing to so to speak.

The university system does some research, and it is one of the national leaders in some wind turbine technology stuff. But in terms of manufacturing, there's very little. And it's unlikely that a lot of that will happen locally in Massachusetts.

And there's a variety of reasons for it. Resources, access to roads, all all those things play into it. So in terms of wind turbine manufacturers or component manufacturers for wind turbines, my little company is probably one of the more probably one of the larger ones at the moment.

And, you know, what are we gonna do with a 30 percent manufacturing break that'll never come to a company like ours? So it's it is you know, in one sense, I think they're trying to promote the industry. And I get all that.

And on the second sense,

New research and work on thermoplastic blade construction has yielded some excitement in the community, and Allen and Rosemary discuss the commercial viability of these turbine blades. Vestas has invested in S&L Access crane technology, and their Salamander Quick Lift looks like a step in the right direction. The small Block Island wind farm now has four of its five turbines stopped for "routine maintenance"...but is something bigger at play?

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! 

Transcript: EP73 - Will Battery Fires Set Renewables Back? Thermoplastic Blade Tech + Vestas Invests in Cranes

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If you're wind turbines or do for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a StrikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan Blewett

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. All right, welcome back to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I am your co-host Dan Blewett - on today's episode. We're going to talk about a recent battery fire from one of the Tesla mega packs burn for about three straight days until

it burn itself out in Victoria, Australia. So we'll talk about some of the implications and whether we should be concerned about battery technology as it takes off, whether that's going to be a problem for renewables. We'll also chat a little bit about the Block Island Wind Farm, which has five turbines up in New England.

Four of them are currently offline, and they've got some subsea cable issues that might need to be reburied. So we'll talk through some of the problems are having there. We're also going to talk a little bit about the fishing sector sector.

Get Rosemarie's take here on some new reporting from The Guardian about, you know, whether the UK is sacrificing their fishing sector for offshore wind and whether this is really a Zero-Sum game or if everyone can get along. We'll talk about some new technology in cranes, the salamander lift system and what that means as Vestas investors invests in

that technology. And lastly, kind of our big topic today, we'll talk about thermoplastic blades, some interesting technology about how to ban them using metal foils. And, well, this is going to be a sustainable practice, whether it will work with lightning issues and all that.

So we've got two great minds on blades here. So before we get going, I want to remind you, you can sign up for uptime tech news in the show notes of today's podcast, no matter where you're listening on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher.

Just click below and you can sign up for our weekly newsletter where we'll send you an update on the podcasts and all of the latest news around the market. So let's get going. Alan, I know you want to talk batteries.

So this big mega pack fire out in Australia sounds pretty scary. What what was the story here with Tesla on this fire?

Well, they don't have any details yet. And Rosemary may have a little more because she's a little closer to it than we are. But it's a big lithium ion pack battery packs out. And they were in construction mode, it sounded like.

And they had an accident in a fire.

Rosemary Barnes, wind turbine blade and renewables expert, is back on the show as a permanent host, bring a fresh new perspective to the mix. Form Energy, a startup backed by Jeff Bezos, is betting that their iron-air battery technology can transform the power grid. Can it? Plus, we discuss GE's plans for automated blade finishing, a distressed jackup vessel at sea, and more.

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! 

Transcript - EP72 - Rosemary Barnes Joins to Talk Iron-Air Battery Tech, Automated Blade Finishing & More

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If you're wind turbines or do for maintenance or repairs, install our strike tape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a strike tape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back. I'm Dan Blewett.

I'm Allen Hall.

And I'm Rosemary Barnes

And this is the uptime podcast bringing you the latest in wind energy, tech news and policy. All right, welcome back to the Uptime Podcast. I'm your co-host, Dan Blewett On today's episode, we've got some exciting news. Number one, Rosemary Barnes will be joining us here today, as are our new co-host.

So, Allen, Allen is it, what do we have to do? Tri-hosts now? What happens here? I don't know. I don't know

how that works. All right. Three new territory.

Yeah, it's going to be great. So we'll hear from her in a second. Today's episode is going to be pretty exciting grants. I was battery tech. We're going to talk about this, really this terrible Chinese offshore installer vessel that has capsized.

We'll talk about the implications of that. I mean, so much offshore wind is is getting going now where, you know, there's going to be accidents like this or talk about the implications there. Some projections and some ideas about engineering as we add offshore wind turbines.

A really interesting case study of an Oklahoma wind farm that's had a lot of problems with safety and damage. And we'll talk about an SCHUTZE investing in a Wyoming wind farm, which is pretty interesting that more and more of these fossil fuel companies are getting into renewable energy.

And lastly, we'll talk about ion air batteries, which is a really exciting development and potentially has major implications for the grid. Before we get going, I want to remind you that we need to get you signed up for uptime tech news.

So if you're interested in the podcast, if you've been a long time listener, it's time to sign up in the show notes. You'll find a link. You just get a weekly email from us as, hey, we got a new podcast.

Here's what it's about. Here's some other great news from around the Web. So definitely sign up for that today in the show notes wherever you listen. So here are my co-hosts. First, let's introduce Rosemary Barnes. Is your first episode back since you were a guest?

Way back when. So, Rosemary, a welcome back to the show. We're excited to have you. Can you give our guests who maybe haven't called your episode or obviously it's been a couple of months, could just kind of give us a quick rundown of your background.

And, you know, part of the reason we wanted to have you on the show is your expertize in wind energy and renewable energy. So what do our guests need to know about you and the expertize you bring to the show?

This week, we discuss the proposed 7.9 billion dollars that are needed for port infrastructure improvements to accommodate the surge in offshore wind in Europe, Australia's booming wind power and renewable output, a huge Australian hydrogen and ammonia plant proposal, Mocean Blue X wave energy technology and more.

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. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Australian Power Output Surgers; Mocean Wave Energy & Port Infrastructure

This episode is brought to you by weatherguard lightning tech at Weather Guard.

We make lightning protection easy.

If you're wind turbinesor do for maintenance or repairs,

install our striketape retrofit LPS upgrade.

At the same time,

a strike tape installation is the quick,easy solution that provides a dramatic,

long lasting boost to the factorylightning protection system.

Forward thinkingwind site owners install strike tape today

to increase uptime tomorrow.

Learn more in the shownotes of today's podcast.

Welcome back. I'm Allen Hall.

I'm Dan Blewett. And this is the uptimepodcast where we talk about wind energy

engineering, lightning protection and waysto keep your wind turbines running.

All right, welcome backto the Uptime Podcast.

I'm your co-host, DanBlewett on today's show.

First, we'll talk a little bitabout port infrastructure. Over in Europe.

It looks like about seven point nine

billion dollars is the estimateof some upgrades that might be needed

just to handle some of

the increased volume of,you know, shipping from offshore wind.

We'll talk about spiral welded towertechnology, which could be a major player

as far as, you know, construction on sitewithout having to ship

these really long towers.

We'll talk about the emotion borlooX wave energy prototype,

which is now off the Orkney Islandsin testing phase.

And the U.S. is actually investing in thatto see if we can get

some of this wave power upand running on the West Coast.

And lastly, we will talk about Australiabreaking an output,

a record with five thousand eighthundred ninety nine megawatts.

And some of the while,the plans for this very big energy hub

in the southwest side of Australiato potentially create green hydrogen and

other fuels for use in heavy industries,power stations, shipping and more.

So, Alan, let's start with infrastructure.

Obviously, this isthis is was going to be a problem.

We've talked about thisjust the need for bigger ships,

for installationvehicles, for bigger ports

as these things growand there's more demand for it,

like this is going to stress everything.

So, I mean, I assume youyou just see this as a natural progression

for all these countriesjust to to make this work, right?

Oh, sure. Can can you.

Well, imagine thatif you have an existing port that

close in the 60s or 70s,which is probably at least

in the United States, waswhat a lot of ports are going to be.

All the infrastructureyou have to put in to make them viable,

to handle offshore wind,it can be roads, right.

Heavy duty roads, a carryheavy things for trucking, all the power

requirements, because you maybe putting factories near the ports.

So all the on the powerdemand you're going to put there,

all the other bits

and bobs of buildings.

You know, it's just going to be massive

amounts of infrastructure,sewer, water lines, the whole thing.

I always guess that when they come upwith numbers for infrastructure

projects, it's roughly 50 percent ofwhat is actually needed to finish the job.

So they probably need twice that thatamount to do it, because it's always so

Companies like BP and Shell are now involved in wind farm projects - this seems like a win for the planet, right? Siemens Gamesa reveals high raw material costs that have caused it to change financial guidance - is this a big deal? Plus, Allen Hall gives his engineering insight into overbuilding structures, and whether digital twin technology can truly help solve the problem of not wasting money on overbuilt structures or machines.

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. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Transcript: Siemens Gamesa Financial Guidance, Plus: Oil Companies Building Wind Farms & Overbuilt Platforms

This episode is brought to you by weather guard lightning tech at Weather Guard. We make lightning protection easy. If your wind turbines are due for maintenance or repairs, install our StrikeTape retrofit LPS upgrade. At the same time, a StrikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic, long lasting boost to the factory lightning

protection system. Forward thinking wind site owners install strike tape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast.

Welcome back. I'm Allen Hall.

I'm Dan Blewett. And this is the uptime podcast where we talk about wind energy engineering, lightning protection and ways to keep your wind turbines running. Welcome back to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your co-host Dan Blewett. On today's show.

We'll chat a little bit about some new financial guidance from Siemens Gamesa, a plans for a Scottish offshore wind farm, some really interesting remote controlled rescue boats that could probably play a pretty important role in personnel rescue out on these offshore wind farms.

And we'll also talk a little bit about digital twin technology and some new some new studies that have shown that perhaps they can help reduce the amount of steel and other materials needed in these offshore platforms, which is an interesting problem to solve because they're trying to make sure they not only overbuild so they survive, but not

under build or waste money as well. So we'll chat about all that today in today's episode. Before we get started, I want to remind you, you can sign up for uptime tech news in the show notes below, whether on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever.

And that's just our weekly email update where you can get a notification that we're hey, we got a new podcast out. You know, jump right to it. Also, some insider tech news from around the Web and some other information that you'll find very valuable if you're trying to stay up on the wind energy market.

So Allen, my co-host, is here. Let's talk about Siemens Gamesa. So it sounds like along with everything else getting more expensive, steel is really becoming pricey. And so Siemens Gamesa has downgraded some of their guidance on what to expect from them financially for almost a year.

Alan, does that surprise you? I mean, everything is more expensive now in twenty twenty one.

It doesn't surprise me, but I didn't realize how much of an impact it's going to have on the wind energy business. Maybe because of steel and some of those more massive commodities, fiberglass, carbon, fiber, all those prices are bumping up.

And motors, generators, all the copper and anything that involves a, you know, a metal is going to be expensive. Steel obviously being one of those. So the the the problem is, is that you set a contract rate and which operator is going to buy wind turbines for in the hope that you've guessed.

Right. On sort of inflation. And some some contracts have some variability in regards to inflation,

Maine announced an indefinite ban on offshore wind in state waters. California, on the other hand, is a step closer to passing laws establishing wind energy goals, setting the stage for a long relationship with wind energy. Why is there such a big difference between states? Can we expect more of this in the future? Plus, the PowerPod by Halcium 1kW wind turbine, off-shore engineering and more.

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. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! 

Transcript: EP69 - Why are Some US States Different in Offshore Wind Regulations? Plus, PowerPod Wind Turbine

0:00This episode is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. At Weather Guard, we make lightning protection easy. If your wind turbines are due for maintenance or repairs, install our StrikeTape retrofit LPS upgrade at the same time. A StrikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic long lasting boost to the factory lightning protection system. Forward Thinking wind site owners install StrikeTape today to increase uptime tomorrow, learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back.

0:38I'm Allen Hall.

0:39I'm Dan Blewett. And this is the uptime podcast where we talk about wind energy engineering, lightning protection and ways to keep your wind turbines running.

All right, welcome back to the uptime podcast. I'm your co host, Dan Blewett. In today's episode, we're gonna talk about a lightning storm igniting some natural gas from a leak offshore near Mexico, New Jersey versus Maine some of the different legislation that's going on over there as far as use of offshore assets, you know, federal versus state waters, mains put in a big ban on using offshore wind in state waters. So we'll chat through that turbine validation at the galfer wind farm, offshore and then beyond wind to hydrogen project that's getting a little bit of steam, we'll talk about this unique powerpod wind turbine, which is a one kilowatt prototype for residential use. And also we'll talk a little bit about offshore wind, some of the engineering challenges and how ocean cleanup might have a relatable story to some of this unproven technology. Before we get going, let me remind you, you can easily sign up for uptime tech news, which is just our weekly newsletter in the description, or show notes of this podcast. And that's just getting a weekly update from us as hey, here's our latest podcast, check it out. Here's some other news from around the web. So if you're interested in staying up to date, definitely check out uptime tech news in the show notes below. So Alan, how you doing? Sir, let's talk about lightning, your favorite thing. This lightning storm out in the waters near Mexico looks like it ignited some natural gas leak from a pipe, you know, well below the surface.

2:31So there's a big gas explosion in the Gulf of Mexico next to an oil rig. And one of the byproducts of oil drilling is you get natural gas spots, right? So they had a lightning storm come through it ignite that gas. And it looks like this a big apocalyptic lit the fire in the middle of the ocean like Wow, those water Wow, those fire those two don't go together, there must be something wrong with the earth or wrong with humans involvement with the earth that caused this big thing to happen. No, none of that was true in the Twitter, bouncing around from environmentalists groups, so to speak. And business groups on the other side are pro drilling groups on the other side, which is ridiculous on both ends a little bit. The fire was put out within a couple of hours. And they had a handle on how to go do that. It sounds like because it got it out.

Are environmental and economic concerns posed by fisherman and advocacy groups valid, given commercial fishing's impact on marine life? We discuss the repowering of a 240MW wind farm in the midwest, along with general implications for old wind turbines, and discuss carbon fiber vs glass fiber in the future of blade construction.

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EP68 Transcript - Fisherman, Repowering Old Wind Farms, Plus Carbon Fiber vs Glass Blade Debate

0:00This episode is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. At Weather Guard, we make lightning protection easy. If your wind turbines are due for maintenance or repairs, install our StrikeTape retrofit LPS upgrade at the same time. A StrikeTape installation is the quick, easy solution that provides a dramatic long lasting boost to the factory lightning protection system. Forward Thinking wind site owners install StrikeTape today to increase uptime tomorrow. Learn more in the show notes of today's podcast. Welcome back.

0:38I'm Allen Hall.

0:39I'm Dan Blewett. And this is the uptime podcast where we talk about wind energy engineering, lightning protection and ways to keep your wind turbines running.

All right, welcome back to the uptime podcast. I'm your co host Dan Blewett. On today's episode, we're gonna talk about the levelized cost of energy. So renewable, renewable sources, including solar and wind are now the lowest to electricity forms, which is pretty cool news. We'll talk a little bit about fishermen and some of their worries some of their woes as far as offshore wind coming to the US. Siemens Gamesa has their 11 megawatt offshore turbine now certified as typhoon resistant. We'll talk a little bit about glass first carbon fiber repowering for old wind farms, and some of the challenges and just interesting tech involved there. So before we get going wanna remind you that in the description of this podcast, whether you're on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, number one, leave us a review, we'd really appreciate it. But number two, you'll find uptime tech news, which is our new weekly newsletter, you can easily subscribe to that and just get a notification from us every Thursday morning, when the podcast drops. So it's right on your inbox, you can click through or listen to the new episode, as well as get some other interesting tech news from around the web, as well as clips from the past. Pat from past episodes, so be sure to sign up for uptime tech news in the description of this podcast. So Alan, how are you sir, let's start with the levelized cost of energy. renewable sources are now cheaper than ever, and solar is in the number one spot with a $37 cost. And onshore wind is now second with $40 per megawatt hour. So this has been a pretty big change a long time coming, the this cost decrease. And now well below gas and other other other forms

2:40it has in the latest data is interesting to look at. on the solar side, I think there's just an emphasis by China to flood the market with cheap solar panels. And that seems to be the driver because Europe in the United States and other parts of the world are not really producing solar cells. So they seem to be mostly coming down to China, on the wind turbine side that the cost of energy is going down as the turbines get bigger. Think of it that way. There's just producing more power for you know, it's still expensive to install, but you're generating so much power out of a certain part of land, which just makes it more efficient. And obviously, the winter market has made a lot of improvements in the last several years, which is fantastic.