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

Allen Hall and co-host Joel Saxum discuss Pearce Renewables' new state-of-the-art training facility in Dallas, Texas with John Hornbeck and Travis Dees. Pearce is addressing the growing demand for skilled wind turbine technicians through innovative hands-on training methods, including the use of real equipment and cross-training opportunities across renewable energy sectors. Learn more at https://www.pearce-renewables.com/training/.







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. I'm your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. The wind energy sector is booming, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts wind turbine service technicians will be the fastest growing job this decade. But with great growth comes a need for skilled workers, and training enough qualified technicians is vital to keep wind farm projects up and running.







Pearce Renewables has been a leader in technician training, and they recently opened a new training facility in Dallas, Texas. And if you're not familiar with Pearce Renewables, and boy, you're missing out. They are the largest ISP in the U. S., and they have a great need for well trained technicians. Our guests are John Hornbeck, Manager of Learning Organizational Development, and Travis Dees, Senior Vice President of Operational Support.







John and Travis, welcome to the show.







Travis Dees: Thank you, Al. Happy to be here.







Allen Hall: Joel and I visited your brand new, fancy training facility in Dallas, Texas. Man, is that thing impressive.







Joel Saxum: Yeah, we were there while you guys were still building things, right? You had people climbing around, you were installing TVs and stuff.







And at that time it was impressive. We walked in, we're like, wow, look at this place. Look at the size of it. The, I think that to be honest with you, the layout of the training rooms and everything. There's a lot of things going on there. You've got capabilities to run people through a lot of different training mechanisms as well.







Travis Dees: Yeah, when we started the design in the facility, it was trying to build for the future, not for what our needs were today, right? As you said before, we're growing very quickly and the need for technicians is definitely upon all of us, but us specifically. Making sure they're trained and equipped properly before they go out i...

Rosemary just got back from a conference and, like many of us recently, feels discouraged. Attendees and meetings were insightful, but the presentations and panels lacked impact. Allen has often felt the same. The two unpack their issues with recent wind energy conferences and discuss possible solutions to make them more valuable.







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, along with my great co host, Rosemary Barnes, who is just back, fresh back from the Australia Wind Energy 2024 Conference in, of all places, Melbourne, Australia. And Rosemary and I were just talking offline about some of the proceedings and the events that happened in Melbourne, and I thought it'd be a good discussion to get out into the greater uptime audience.







Rosemary, first off, welcome back, and can you give us just a couple of just top level what was going on in Melbourne australia at this wind energy conference?







Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, it was actually really focused on offshore wind this time. We I would say two thirds, three quarters, maybe more of the sessions were like explicitly about offshore wind, it seemed, and when it wasn't explicitly about it, then people were trying to shoehorn it in, which.







On the one hand, it makes sense because that's the, next big exciting thing coming. But on the other hand, we have literally zero offshore wind currently, and we have many things that could be improved with our current onshore wind rollout. I did think that there, it was a bit unbalanced in that way.







This conference, it was amazing in terms of everybody shows up to it. I, I think I was just back to back meetings the entire time really targeted at all the people that I, Wanted to talk to for, the various projects that I've got going on. So in that sense, it was incredibly successful and and had a great time.







But yeah, when I did find the time to step into some of the presentations, which is what you pay for after all, it's 1, 500 for two days. And yeah, the sessions that I went to, they're just getting. Worse and worse. It feels less and less like anybody cares what the experience is like for the attendees, what they might be hoping to get out of it.







And it's just purely about extracting money from everybody, extract money from the exhibitors, extract money from the sponsors, extract money from the keynote speakers.

A blade has failed at the Vineyard Wind Farm off the coast of Nantucket--what will the fallout be? How is GE responding? Will this effect the US Presidential Election? Plus a warning about electrostatic eliminators and mid-blade lightning protection: they don't work. And Mechanix Wear's TRACK (Trial Research and Collaboration Kit) program offers on-site assessments to identify specific hand protection needs for employees. NextEra's Walleye Wind Farm in Minnesota is our wind farm of the week!







Visit AMI's website to book a spot at the Wind Turbine Blades conference!







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. I'm AllenHall, and I'll be bringing you this week's top stories in the wind energy sector. Siemens Gamesa has secured a 1. 2 billion euro line of green guarantees from the Spanish government and major banks. This support comes at a crucial time for the wind energy subsidiary of Siemens Energy, which has been grappling with financial challenges.







The Spanish export credit insurance company and a banking syndicate led by BBVA and BNP Paribas are backing this initiative. The Spanish state is providing a 50 percent guarantee, up to 600 million euros. Sharing the risk with the guarantor banks. This line of guarantees is designed to support Siemens Gamesa's projects in technical guarantees, allowing the company to execute its substantial order backlog of 40 billion euros in the wind business.







We now turn our attention to the competitive landscape in the U. S. offshore wind market. Siemens Gamesa is currently leading the pack with a commanding 57 percent share of the order pipeline for offshore wind projects that have already selected a supplier. This translates to six projects with a capacity of Denmark's Vestas follows in second place with a 32 percent share, while U.







S. based GE Vernova rounds out the top three with 11 percent. Shifting gears to labor news, approximately 300 workers at a Siemens Gamesa wind turbine factory in Hull, England, Are being balloted for a potential strike. The dispute centers around a pay offer that the Unite Union claims amounts to a real terms pay cut.







The union warns that a strike could cause significant disruption to production.

Siemens Gamesa has received a €1.2 billion line of 'green' guarantees from the Spanish government along with a group of major banks. Masdar is finalizing a deal with Endesa to acquire a 49 percent stake in their 2, 000 megawatt renewable energy portfolio. Leeward Renewable Energy has secured $1.25 billion in financing for its construction warehouse facility. The Welsh government has established Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, a publicly owned renewable energy developer.







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 WeatherGuard Lightning Tech, and I'm here with the founder and CEO of Intel store Phil Totaro and the chief commercial officer of WeatherGuard, Joel Saxum, and this is your News Flash. Newsflash 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.







In Spain, Siemens Gamesa has received a crucial financial boost. The Spanish government and major banks have granted the company 1. 2 billion in green guarantees. This support will help Siemens Gamesa, which has been facing financial challenges, To back its wind energy projects, the company is also undergoing leadership changes with Vinod Philip, set to become the new CEO in August.







So Phil, this backing by the Spanish government and banks within Spain is a welcome entrant into the Siemens Gamesa financial situation.







Philip Totaro: It is and it's something that they've been asking for for a while in terms of receiving some level of support. It seems a little lower than what they wanted unfortunately for them.







And keep in mind, this is almost like a, a line of credit type of thing. They don't have to necessarily tap into this unless they, they actually need it. First of all the second aspect of this is that, the unions are also going to be all over this saying, well, this is ample evidence that you can, keep us on board and keep paying us or it, as it turns out, may have been necessary for them to receive this funding to be able to keep the, the unions happy.







So. We'll see how much of this they, they end up actually needing. This will presumably be part of their financial reports in the future. How they're, how they're putting these funds to use. But hopefully they don't need to tap into it too much and they can, get back to being a thriving company.







Joel Saxum: My, my main concern with it is if it's a prop up or is it, is it real, right? So is this something that's going to really boost ...

Allen and Joel speak with Michael Tosi, founder and CEO of HeliService USA, which is providing helicopter transportation for the offshore wind industry. HeliService USA provides efficient, safe, and environmentally-friendly transport for technicians and equipment to offshore wind farms, providing an advantage over marine vessels. With the highest safety standards, cost-effectiveness, and speed, HeliService is making offshore wind travel better.







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. I'm your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. As offshore wind continues to develop in the U. S., transportation of technicians and equipment is becoming a big issue for developers and operators to tackle. HeliService USA provides helicopter transportation and support services for the offshore wind industry in the U.







S. Based in Rhode Island, the company is utilizing the unique capabilities of helicopters to deliver personnel, cargo, and equipment. and conduct maintenance operations efficiently. Our guest is Michael Tosi, founder and CEO of HeliService USA. Michael is a helicopter pilot and also served in the U S air force.







Michael, welcome to the show.







Michael Tosi: Thank you, Allen. Really appreciate you having me today and look forward to chatting more.







Allen Hall: You're in a really busy place right now because the pace of construction on U. S. offshore projects has really picked up. And you're flying technicians back and forth. How many flights are you conducting right now a week?







Michael Tosi: So it, it varies. There's two big scopes that we cover. So the first scope we cover is actually the construction of the wind farm. For the construction of the wind farm, we're typically flying offshore workers who are going to be on vessels for, two, three, four, five, six weeks, depending on what their shift schedule is.







So that involves flying out to an installation vessel, a heavy lift vessel S. O. V. potentially, depositing those passengers we usually bring folks back to the other direction. And so those flights go on per vessel, sometimes once a week, twice a week, per vessel in the field. And now, of course, because they have several turbines up, more than several at this stage we're also helping with operations and maintenance even prior to the wind farms being complet...

Chinese-made drones disguised as wind turbine parts were intercepted in Italy, sparking debate on China's role in the global wind energy market. Allen, Phil, and Joel explore how European manufacturers like Vestas and Siemens Gamesa can compete against subsidized Chinese firms such as Goldwind and Mingyang. Do EU protectionist policies address China's growing influence in renewable energy? In other news, Statkraft has reduced its target for renewables, the UK has lifted their onshore wind ban, Archer is moving into the offshore wind industry, and Louisiana is installing their first wind turbine.







Visit AMI's website to book a spot at the Wind Turbine Blades conference!















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. I'm Allen Hall, and I'll be bringing you this week's top stories in the wind energy sector. We start with a significant announcement from Statkraft, the Norwegian energy giant. The company has revealed plans to reduce its target for building solar PV, battery energy storage systems and wind farms from 2026 onwards.







Statkraft is adjusting its development rate for solar, battery and onshore wind from two and a half to three gigawatts to two and a half gigawatts. Even more notably, their offshore wind targets have been cut from 10 gigawatts to 68 gigawatts by 2040. This shift comes as Statcraft aims to prioritize investments in its home country of Norway.







The company cites challenging market conditions for the entire renewable energy industry as a reason for this strategic adjustment. Despite these reductions, Stackraft remains committed to expanding its hydropower capabilities with plans to initiate at least five major capacity upgrade projects in Norway by 2030.







Moving to England, the de facto ban on onshore wind development has been lifted with immediate effect. This decision is part of a broader commitment to double the capacity of onshore wind in Britain by 2030. and boost energy independence. The policy change places onshore wind on equal footing with other energy development in the National Planning Policy Framework.







This move is expected to significantly accelerate the growth of onshore wind in England.