The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast Allen Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Joel Saxum & Phil Totaro

In this episode, Allen, Joel, and Philip discuss Siemens Gamesa's leadership changes and quality issues, the strong financial performance of Nordex and RWE, and upgrades to UK wind turbine testing facilities. They also cover the christening of the first American-built offshore wind service operation vessel, the EcoEdison, and the DOE's selection of five floating wind technologies for the Flow Wind Prize readiness competition.







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.com







Allen Hall: All right, Lego lovers a Canadian man has combined his love of Lego and Star Wars, shocker, to build the 75, 000 piece Millennium Falcon in a record breaking time of, Joel, take a guess.







Joel Saxum: How much coffee did he have first?







Allen Hall: Red Bull.







Joel Saxum: I'm gonna say







Allen Hall: That's not too far off. Phil, what's your guess?







Philip Totaro: Six? I don't know.







Allen Hall: Seven hours, 36 minutes and 37 seconds. Ivan Wu of Markham, Ontario earned the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to build a Lego Star Wars 75, 000 piece Millennium Falcon. It's 10, 000 pieces an hour. That's insane. How did that, Phil, can your fingers move that fast?







Philip Totaro: 10, 000 pieces an hour?







Only when I'm typing Intel store research.







Allen Hall: You get the bags, right? And the bags are all just mixed parts, right? And they say, you open up the manual and it says, open up manual one out of six. And then you open bag one and six, and then you have to, that's three pieces a second. How do you tell your spouse Hey, I'm I really need to buy the 75, 000 piece Millennium Falcon to set a Guinness







Philip Totaro: World Record.







Sorry to stereotype, but this guy does not have a spouse.







Joel Saxum: But it only took seven hours of his life, so Seven hours of peace and quiet. Yeah, but how much training did it get to that point?







Allen Hall: See that, Joel, that's the ultimate question. I was thinking the same thing. That guy worked on that for weeks.







Joel Saxum: How many times has he built that thing? He's trained like an Olympic athlete. Seven hours was the record winning attempt, right? He's probably done it a hundred times or more. Canadian winters are long. They are, and now they're the world champions. There you go.

Masdar signs a land access deal for a 10 GW Egyptian wind project. Goldwind acquires GE's idle Brazilian wind turbine factory. Canadian pension fund CDPQ faces hurdles deploying energy transition capital in Asia. Sweden's EQT moves to acquire renewable developer OX2 for $1.5 billion.







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.com







Allen Hall: I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech. And I'm here with the founder and CEO of IntelStor, Phil Totaro and the chief commercial officer of Weather Guard, Joel Saxum. And this is your News Flash. News Flash is brought to you by our friends at IntelStor. If you want market intelligence that generates revenue, then book a demonstration of IntelStor at IntelStor. com.







Renewable energy major, Masdar, is joint venture Infinity Power and partner Hassan Alam Utilities have signed a land access agreement with the Egyptian government for a massive 10 gigawatt onshore wind project. The deal provides the consortium with over 3, 000 square kilometers of land in West Suhag to conduct necessary studies and surveys to advance the project.







When completed, this wind farm is expected to generate nearly 48, 000. thousand gigawatt hours annually, reducing Egypt's carbon emissions by 9 percent and helping the country achieve its 42 percent renewable power target by 2030. It could also save Egypt an estimated 5 billion per year in natural gas costs.







Phil Masdar, once again, doing amazingly large projects.







Philip Totaro: Yes, and this thing is going to involve a significant amount of investment. And Mastar's the type of company that hasn't shied away from sourcing turbines from China, for instance. So this could end up being a big deal for Envision or Goldwind.







Egypt right now has, I think about 1. 6 gigawatts of wind operational, pretty much all along the the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. But this is, taking advantage of an ample amount of space that still exists out there and reasonably close proximity to to Cairo, where I think a lot of the power will end up getting piped into.







Fantastic news, again, to see, in general development in Africa. And we'll see how this evolves in terms of, what they line up as far as the supply chain players that are going to be a part of this.







Joel Saxum: If I was to recommend anything to anybody from Mazdar in the development phase or Hasan Alam in these, in, while they're planning this,

This episode features an insightful discussion with Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi, a Lightning Scientist at AEM, who shares her expertise on severe weather patterns, the findings of the AEM 2023 United States Lightning Report, and the potential impact of storms on wind turbines. Dr. DiGangi provides valuable insights into the formation of tornadoes, hail, and lightning, as well as the measures wind farm operators can take to mitigate risks associated with severe weather. Reach out at  https://aem.eco/contact-us/ !







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.com







Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, your go to podcast for the latest insights and discussions on the wind energy industry. I'm your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. The U. S. Heartland has recently experienced a series of severe weather events, including violent tornadoes, intense lightning strikes, and large hail.







These extreme conditions pose significant challenges to the wind energy industry, as wind turbines are particularly vulnerable to the forces of nature. We are thrilled to have with us a very special guest, Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi a Lightning Scientist at AEM, and AEM is based in Germantown, Maryland. Dr. DiGangi holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our discussion. In this episode, Dr. Daganji will share her insights on the recent severe weather patterns, the findings of the AEM 2023 United States lightning report, and the potential impact of these storms can have on wind turbines.







She will also discuss the measures wind farm operators can take to mitigate the risks associated with severe weather and ensure the longevity and efficiency of their turbines. Turbines, whether you're a wind energy professional, a meteorology enthusiast, or simply interested in the intersection of weather and renewable energy.







This episode promises to be both informative and engaging. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities presented by severe weather with the wind energy industry with Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi from AEM, Dr. DiGangi. Welcome.







Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi: Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.

Allen sat down with Nicholas Gaudern, CTO of PowerCurve, at ACP in Minneapolis to discuss the importance of aerodynamic blade optimizations and upgrades during wind turbine repowering. PowerCurve's AeroVista tool can help operators address leading-edge erosion and suboptimal blade designs to mitigate aerodynamic losses.







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.com







Allen Hall: Welcome to the special edition of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, and I am at ACP 2024 in Minneapolis with Nicholas Gaudern the CTO of PowerCurve. And PowerCurve is based in Denmark, and they are aerodynamic blade experts. And Nicolas background is with Vestas, and now he's a freelancer, so to speak, at PowerCurve.







And PowerCurve is where WeatherGuard goes for aerodynamic help. Yes, and a lot of other operators around the world reach out to power curve. So we thought it'd be a good time to talk to Nicholas because of all the repower activity in the United States and aerodynamic upgrades that should be happening on the ground.







Nicholas Gaudern: Yes. Yeah.







Allen Hall: That, that the opportunities being passed by, which is a total mistake, absolutely total mistake. And Nicholas, welcome to the program. And I want to walk through that.







Nicholas Gaudern: Thanks for having me back Allen. It's really nice to talk to you again and and another show. So always good.







Allen Hall: So in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, all over the United States, the IRA bill is kicking in and there's a lot of repowering happening at the moment.







And when I talk to operators about lightning protection, they're like, yeah, absolutely. We need to put additional lightning protection on because we know from the previous blades that they were not great. And we've heard rumors that these blades are not great. Our new blades are not great. So for lightning protection, that's pretty easy, but they also don't they don't think about the aerodynamic aspects.







Nicholas Gaudern: No not necessarily. And I think it's it risks being a really big missed opportunity. Yes. Because whenever you've got a blade on the ground, that is obviously an easier time to be doing any upgrade work, repair work, enhancement, whatever you want to do. So when you've got a blade on the ground, you should absolutely be considering the optimization potential,

Allen, Rosemary, and Phil discuss the state of wind energy development and the potential impact of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. They also cover TPI Composites' partnership with the University of Maine and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to utilize 3D printing technology for producing wind turbine blade tooling.







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.com







Allen Hall: Alright, did you see this the situation in Colorado where someone who was just released from jail tries to steal a pickup truck? Or, I don't know what you call it in Australia. What do they call it in Australia? It's not a pickup truck. A ute. A ute. A utility vehicle. But! This thief.







Rosemary got into the truck and realized it has a clutch. It's got a third pedal. It didn't know what to do. They got re arrested that they tried to put the, tried to drive the truck, didn't know what to do. Got it in neutral and the truck rolled down the road and hit a fire hydrant. But, Rosemary in the United States, Clutch, a manual transmission vehicle is like non existent anymore.







You get to, it is very hard to purchase one. I don't know about Australia. You still have clutch cars?







Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I know. Even when I lived in America and it was 20 years ago now, and there was nothing but automatics in America and in Australia, it's mostly manuals. It's also a point of pride. Like I don't imagine there would be many hardened.







Hardened criminals in Australian jails that wouldn't know how to drive a manual. That would just be like really, it would feel really pathetic to them. But it is something that I have thought about because obviously electric cars don't need gearboxes. Like my son he's one now by the time he learns to drive, it'll be all electric cars.







And certainly we're only going to have electric cars. And. He, yeah, he'll never learn to drive a manual unless I will most likely really have to go out of my way to find some classic car to, to teach him in and why he won't need that skill.







Philip Totaro: It's going to be like the inverse of Mad Max. It's like you're going to have to search for petrol.







Rosemary Barnes: There should be actually an energy transition version of Mad Max because now that we know about solar power and and wind energy, like a lot of the premise of Mad Max doesn't really, it's, it wasn't really future proofed, right? If we had, if we did descend into a Mad Max dystopia tomorrow,

Microsoft is partnering with Brookfield Asset Management to develop 10.5 GW of new wind and solar, Siemens Gamesa reports a €365 million loss in the 2nd quarter of 2024, WEG will begin manufacturing their 7 GW turbine platform in Minnesota, and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners acquire Allete.







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.com







Allen Hall: I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech, and I'm here with the founder and CEO of IntelStor, Phil Totaro, and the chief commercial officer of Weather Guard, Joel Saxum. And this is your News Flash. News Flash is brought to you by our friends at IntelStor. If you want market intelligence that generates revenue, then book a demonstration of IntelStor at intelstor. com.







Microsoft has partnered with Canada's Brookfield Asset Management to develop new wind and solar farms aiming to bring 10. 5 gigawatts of generating capacity online. The partnership is expected to help finance renewable electricity projects to be built between 2026 and 2030. 30 starting in the U.S. and eventually Europe. The deal is estimated to cost over 10 billion U. S. dollars, and it highlights the race to meet clean energy commitments while satisfying the growing energy demands of cloud computing and A. I. Now, Phil, we all know that A. I. is going to be expensive in the electricity world.







Everybody is worried about it. Microsoft is trying to hedge their bets at the minute. Do you expect others like an Amazon to do something similar?







Philip Totaro: Amazon's been up until this deal, once it officially closes and they actually build and start procuring all this. This is going to be the biggest corporate renewables procurement in history.







Amazon's been doing their fair share and was leading up until this point. But this is this is massive. So it let's put it this way. It looks like, deals like this are going to finally get the tech sector in the mood to say, all right, we like, fixed price contracts with, some degree of certainty and, proven technology now between wind and solar particularly for cloud applications or AI applications where, it's going to be, power intensive, I think, the tech sector in general needs needed to, and is getting more on board with this.







Even, my own company builds on AWS. We've, contributed to them procuring some renewables capacity as well. And we're taking the benefit of that too.