Weather Guard Lightning Tech High Altitude Turbines, AES Goes Big on Renewables, Nordex Stumbles, GE-NREL Study Jet Streams, Wood Mackenzie Prediction, SeaMade Wind Farm Meet Joel and Allen at ACP in New Orleans! Visit the Weather Guard Lightning Tech and Ping display at Booth 810. Rosemary kicks off this episode with an analysis of a 14,700 ft high wind farm southwestern China. Do the blades need to be designed to handle the less dense air at high altitude? AES is getting out of coal fired plants and plans to triple its renewable capacity – Yay! Q1 for Nordex wasn’t great but Joel think the ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech PowerCurve – Turning Blade Photos into Power For our bonus this week, Allen talks with Nicholas Gaudern, CTO of PowerCurve, at WindEurope 2023. In a new breakthrough process, PowerCurve leverages drone inspection photographs from SkySpecs and 3D laser scans to create highly accurate aerodynamic models of wind turbine blades. These high-resolution models allow PowerCurve to predict the AEP of blades in-service. This new offering is being used by operators world-wide to leverage blade aero upgrades and leading edge protection devices. PowerCurve – https://powercurve ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech nvisionist Bird Detector, Countries Align for Minerals, Rosemary Talks Epoxy Recycling, Ørsted Trains NJ Wind energy strives to work alongside nature as Greece-based nvisionist leverages Artificial Intelligence with their bird detection and avoidance equipment. Joel explains the latest in vision tech and how rapid development is lowering costs. Australia seems poised to benefit as multiple countries try to find alternate sources for critical minerals. Rosemary brings great insight into this shift. Danish researchers invented a new method of recycling wind turbine ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech Borealis Wind Heats Blades to Fight Ice In this bonus episode, Allen and Joel sit with Daniela Roeper, CEO and Founder of Borealis Wind, in Copenhagen to discuss the importance of anti-icing solutions for wind turbine blades. Borealis Wind is a leading company in the wind turbine blade anti-icing sector, and Roeper’s innovative technology has helped to increase the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines, making them more viable in colder climates. Daniela explains that icing is a significant challenge for wind turbine operators, as it can reduce energy produc ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech Ship Hits Turbine, DNV Earthquake Problem, 9 GW-hr Battery, Fish in Jackets, Nabrawind Funding, RWE buys 1GW from SGRE The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast team covers a variety of interesting stories this week. The first story is about a ship carrying 1500 tons of grain that hit a wind turbine in German waters. The team discusses how such accidents can be avoided in the future. The next story is about DNV starting a joint project to investigate geotechnical and design considerations for earthquake protection for offshore wind in different areas of the world. The team a ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech WindESCo Swarm System Steers Wind Farms to Higher Power WindESCo’s Intelligent Swarm system maximizes wind farm output with revolutionary wake steering technology. VP of Products, Danian Zheng, and Director of Software Engineering, Pete Bachant, share their success story at the Milford I&II Wind Farms in Utah with Joel and Allen. WindESCo – https://www.windesco.com Pardalote Consulting at https://www.pardaloteconsulting.com Wind Power Lab – https://windpowerlab.com Weather Guard Lightning Tech – www.weatherguardwind.com Intelstor – https://www.intelstor.com Si ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech Live from Wind Europe 2023 in Copenhagen Joel Saxum and Allen Hall report live from Wind Europe 2023 in Copenhagen, where Maersk and GustoMSC have joined forces to develop an innovative solution for lowering the cost of offshore wind installations. They are designing a cost-effective jack-up vessel and simple feeder barges. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard is warning captains of supply vessels carrying wind turbine blades to ensure that the blades do not block the view from the bridge. EDF is betting on 20+MW offshore machines, while Norway is investing in both fixed ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech Lightning Damage: Not always Force Majeuere It’s springtime in the northern hemisphere, which means more lightning strikes to wind turbines. Most of the time they can handle the strikes, no problem. But in rare instances lightning does tremendous damage. When asked about a damaged turbine, lightning experts usually respond that ‘it’s force majeure’, or ‘it was a super-bolt’. Not elegant responses, but the wind owners, operators, and insurers hear it a lot. How did we get here, and what really matters in turbine lightning protection? These are the important questio ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech Bonus: EchoBolt – A Revolution in Bolt Upkeep In this bonus episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, hosts Allen Hall and Joel Saxum delve into the complexities of bolt connections in the wind industry with Pete Andrews, the Managing Director of the UK-based company EchoBolt. With bolted connections being a key area undergoing significant changes in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, EchoBolt has introduced a new approach to bolt inspections that is faster and more accurate, transforming the way the wind industry thinks about bolts. The discussion cover ..read more

Weather Guard Lightning Tech RWE Goes Small, Volkswagen Flies Kites, Scotland Goes Deep, Thread Goes Local, Ridgeway Rockbags Volkswagen just invested in EnerKite’s airborne wind turbines. How practical are they? Allen, Rosemary and Joel discuss the possibilities. RWE just bet on  small wind and Ryse Energy, with about 400 installations. What would make small wind more viable? Hint: certification would help. Can the right software cut out the middleman in drone inspections? North Dakota’s Thread is on it. Scotland’s SS ..read more