Dominion Offshore, Siemens Takeover, Gravity Foundations, ArcVera Wakes, AeroLightning with Nicholas Gaudern

11/23/22 • 51 min

Rosemary and Allen review the latest news from Dominion Energy's offshore negotiations with Virginia and the Siemens acquisition of SGRE. Low-cost offshore gravity foundations are installed France with great results - will they be the future in offshore? Allen is excited about a YouTube video from ArcVera on wake turbulence. Back at WindEnergy Hamburg Allen and Joel discuss the latest in AeroLightning with Nicholas Gaudern, CTO of PowerCurve. Visit 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 ArcVera YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPz5JN0UBoM 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! Uptime 140 Audio Pod Cut 1 Allen Hall: Rosemary Joel is enjoying himself in sunny California. So it's just you and me for this episode. And we have a, a special guest here, actually. Rosemary, you wanna introduce everybody? Rosemary Barnes: Yep. This is my, my little boy who's. Four and a half weeks old and just so, so keen to get started on engineering communication that he's decided to join the podcast today, So Allen Hall: we're excited to have him along with us. And we, we talk about some really interesting topics this week. Dominion Energy is finally settled with the state of Virginia on their offshore wind costs. And that's good news. Spanish regulators have agreed to let Siemens, me. Be acquired by Siemens in a $4 billion plus takeover. And Siemens is also trying to restructure itself as part of its mystro program to, to really grow that company. And then we have Rosemary. I go back and forth about some gravity based foundations that are being installed in France, which are, is an interesting technology because it just lowers the cost of foundations. It's a little complicated in terms of, of how they're deployed, but it's lower cost and you think you're gonna see that in the United States. And then I, I crossed a video from a ArcVera recently on YouTube, and everybody just subscribed to ArcVera's YouTube channel because they have really cool things there. We talk about wake turbulence on offshore wind farms, and our career has published some of their research in a long webinar. It's about an hour long, but it's well worth the time to, to sit through that and understand the difficulties in the, in the concerns about wake turbulence on offshore winds. At the end of this, we have an interview with Joel and I do over in Germany. We sat down with Nicholas Ern, CTO of Power Curved. We talk about pretty much all things aerodynamics, lightning and wind, Turbin blade, so that's a really great interview. Stay tuned for that. I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech, and I'm here with Australian Blade Whiz, Rosemary Barnes and Joel living it up in California. And this. Is the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. Well, Rosemary, it's, it's great to have you back and Dominion Energy. Is resolved their dispute with the state of Virginia. Like I said before, when Rosemary comes back, the world starts to settle down a little bit. Things are, things are calming down, there's less fires to put out, and one of them is this dominion energy state of Virginia issue. And remember that Dominion's gonna to put about 176 wind turbines off the coast of Virginia and the state of Virginia through some of the regulatory bodies, was asking for a 42% capacity factor in domin. Said no and very strongly said no.

Previous Episode

Bonus: Blade Pitch Problems and Structural Damage

In this BONUS episode, Joel and Allen discuss blade pitch alignment with Lars Bendsen of AC883 and blade structural damage with Morten Handberg of Wind Power Lab. Pitch errors create power losses AND bearing damage. Lars explains how a simple laser alignment check can save operators big sums. Resident Blade Whisper Morten Handberg gives us the latest on structural blade issues and the most recent technology to help detect and possibly repair blades. Visit Pardalote Consulting at https://www.pardaloteconsulting.com Wind Power Lab - https://windpowerlab.com Weather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.com AC883 - https://www.ac883.com 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! Allen Hall: This is a special bonus episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. While Joel and I were at the Wind Energy Hamburg exhibition, we had the opportunity to sit down with Lars Benson of AC 8 83. Lars is based up in Canada, and Lars talked to us about blade pitch angle measurements and how to correct them and why pitch angle measurements are so important to extend the lifetime. Of your wind turbine. And then I meet with our resident Blade Whisperer Morton. Hamburg, a wind power lab. And Morton provides an update on blade structural issues, leading edge erosion, always a problem, and how robots can help improve blade damage inspections. So stay tuned for a large and Morton. This is a great episode. We're here with my cohost Joel for Wind Power Lab, and we have a special. Quasi Canadian guest, but , I don't Morten Handberg: know if you'll claim that. I don't think you'll claim Lars Bendsen: it either. Canadian. Dans. There you go. Joel Saxum: Canada with a K. Exactly. , Lars Bendsen: yeah. Allen Hall: This is Lar Benson from AC 8 83 and Joel and I have talked about Lars as this company a number of times on the podcast because Lars does pitch alignment and pitch measurements that dramatically reduce damage to wind turbines. And so we thought we saw Lars here in Hamburg. And we thought what was just corner and find out all the details. So lar walk it to Lars Bendsen: the program. Thank you so much. So Allen Hall: can you explain a little bit of what Pitch Alignment is and why it is so Lars Bendsen: important? Yeah, I think it's thank you for inviting with this podcast. I think it's critical that you need a role that is in balance. Yeah. So all three blades have to have the same pitch angle to keep the road I balance. So there's the aerodynamic balance, and then you have a mass imbalance. Right. They're equally bad. Right. But we can measure it both if we have a mass imbalance on aerodynamic balance, it's important to to distinguish those two things. Sure. Allen Hall: So how are you actually making those measurements? I assume it was from the ground. I said that's, how about explained to me what is Morten Handberg: all involved in Lars Bendsen: this? Yeah. It's a it's a German developed 15 years ago, laser. Ah, two lasers, one in front of the tower up wind. Mm-hmm. and measuring on the root max. Root of the blade. Okay. And on the blade tip. Okay. And that means every time the blade passes the tower, we scanning the blade on the max and on the tip, every time it pass passes the tower. Okay. So Allen Hall: why, why there? Lars Bendsen: Because we need to have the laser pointing at the tower as well, because then we are measuring the tower. So as soon as the blade is not in front, the laser, our laser points at the, the,

Next Episode

Wooden Turbine Blades, Too Much Solar in Australia, Insurance Drives Turbine Repair Market

Siemens' offshore wind CEO says failures to understand cost increases and to compensate for supply chain weaknesses threaten worldwide wind energy goals. Meanwhile, policies like the UK's taxing wind farms at a higher rate than fossil fuels producers have met with frustration, and regulators may make US offshore developers gun-shy. The team also explores joint mooring systems design and operational issues, discusses some complexities of the Australian energy grid, and considers how sustainable and scalable Voodin Blade Technology's new turbine blades - made entirely of wood - may be. Spoiler alert: Rosemary has questions. If you have questions about OEM service agreements, insurance claims and liabilities, don't miss the interview with Intelstor's Philip Totaro. Visit 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 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! Uptime 141 Allen Hall: Geez, Joel, we've had a really crazy week at Uptime. We've been skimming through all the news that's happening and it's, it's overwhelming all of a sudden. I don't know what happens once the, the summer ends and winter hits. It's like wind energy News Central. The last couple of weeks actually. And, and this week we're gonna talk about a, a couple of different areas. We're talking about a finished company making wind turbine blades entirely outta laminated wood. So that's very, so much to what they're talking about with towers. So we may have a wind turbine that's made entirely of wood. And then we have a really interesting discussion with Philip Daro of Intel store regarding insurance companies and their preference for OEM maintenance contract. Joel Saxum: So after that we're gonna talk about the success and, and kudos to Equinor for getting the world's largest floating wind farm. Started up high wind Tampa in there off the coast of Norway. And then we're gonna jump gears, hop in a plane, go down to South Australia and talk with Rosemary about. About her friends in, in Australia and their grid issues with solar and wind shutdowns. And, and kind of how that affects and what what we think could happen in the future in that market and in the US market and other markets. And then lastly, eight more draft wind energy offshore areas in the Central Atlantic. So we're talking about some that are in. 400 meters plus of water, some shallower stuff. So there's a little bit of floating, a little bit of fixed bottom but more offshore wind energy planning and areas coming to the Allen Hall: us. I'm Alan Hall, president of Weather, Gar Lightning Tech, and I'm here with Australian Renewables guru Rosemary Barnes, and my good friend from Wind Power Lab, Joel Saxon. And this. Is the Uptime Win Energy podcast. Rosemary Barnes: All right, Rosemary. Allen Hall: Finnish renewable product maker. Store Enzo, who is one of the largest private forest owners in the world, is partnering up with German startup. Wooden blade technology. Now it's spelled V o o d i n. So if you happen to Google that, make sure you spell it correctly, and they are going to make sustainable wooden wind turbine blades. Now you say to yourself, that seems a little bit crazy, right? Well, it's not actually crazy because you're doing it right now. The so the two companies are producing a 20 meter blade section, and it's, and they're planning to make an 80 meter. And that 20 meter blade a week is gonna be put in serv...