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Uptime Podcast – Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Hosted by Allen Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Yolanda Padron & Matthew Stead · EN
The Wind Turbine LPS Retrofit
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Siemens Gamesa Blade Closeout Plates, Vestas & ZF Plastic Torque Tube
Nov 6, 202400:10:40Tap to summarizeThis week on Power-Up, we discuss Siemens Gamesa’s method for stabilizing wind turbine blades by installing closeout plates. Then Vestas and ZF’s idea to replace the metal torque tube in the gearbox with a plastic piece, protecting from current. And finally, an Enercon patent for painting blades in an ombre pattern to lessen visual disturbances. 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.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference – https://www.windaustralia.com Allen Hall: Welcome to Power Up, the uptime podcast focused on the new, hot off the press technology that can change the world. Follow along with me, Allen Hall, and IntelStor’s Phil Totaro, as we discuss the weird, the wild, and the game changing ideas that will charge your energy future. All right guys, our first idea is what’s turbine blades, and it’s an idea from Siemens Gamesa, and it In patent form, as they describe it here, it’s what they call a novel approach to stabilizing wind turbine blades without the need for traditional trailing edge beam designs. But what they’re really doing is they’re installing closeout plates on the, between the aft spar and the trailing edge. So, This idea is pretty much making a wind turbine blade look a lot like an airplane wing, Phil. Philip Totaro: Yeah, especially like an older style airplane wing. So those that aren’t familiar with the closeout plate, it’s like a rib design that has this, vertical element at different longitudinal locations throughout the Kind of the, the max cord section and in inner portion with the exception of like the, the immediate root section of the blade. But it’s, it’s interesting to me, besides just the, the general concept here, the timing of this was fascinating to me because they filed for this patent back in April of 2024. And the patent has now published in October and the question Is, is this a potential fix to a problem? Is this what’s this really doing? Allen Hall: Well, it’s stopping torsion is what it’s doing, Phil. It’s preventing the blade from twisting too much, which makes me think of a couple of blades that I’m familiar with that have torsion problems. Joel? Joel Saxum: Well, if you look at the image here, so I’ve crawled around in quite a few blades doing RCA’s and failures, and you’re always looking for failure modes, so you start getting into a different mindset of when you’re crawling around in them. But In multiple blades that I’ve been in, there’s an, what looks like an extra shear web in the, in some of like the max cord region and stuff like that, just to make sure that you keep that part of the shell supported and then that structure rigid there. And in this design, they’re removing that extra shear web and putting these closeout plates in there. And it is exactly like you guys say, the design looks like an airplane wing with a bunch of ribs in it. And to me, in my mind I’m, I’m not a, trained structural engineer, but from engineering principles and just kind of physics and forces and a little bit of knowledge there, this to me looks like it could solve some, some pretty big issues. However, in maintenance, that makes things a little bit more difficult because maintenance and construction, because it’s harder to place these things in construction, of course, and to get them right. We already sometimes have a hard enough time placing shear webs and getting those right. Now you’re adding perpendicular components and multiple of them. So that makes that a little bit more difficult. And then, you’re checking more glue, glue lines and bond lines and these kinds of things. But then, of course, what we’ve seen in the last two to four years and wind and the explosion of internal inspections. The only way you’re going to do an internal inspection on one of these blades is, from a structured standpoint, is with like an Elios drone or something like that, if they can fit through the holes in the closeout panels. But you’re not going to do it with a crawler anymore. So there’s some like manufacturing things, some trade offs with O& M. However, to me, it looks like if you could get this right, you might end up with some more structurally rigid blades. That could, could alleviate some of these cracking and, and blade failure issues we have. Allen Hall: Our next idea is from Zedaph Windpower and Vestas Wind. And it has to do with gearboxes and preventing electrical Currents, stray electrical currents from damaging the gearboxes, the drivetrain, and causing havoc and warranty claims and all kinds of other things. As you, as you pass through a gearbox, there’s usually a tube that sits in the middle of this where you can put hydraulics or electrical signals or whatever you want through them. However, when you put a piece of metal in this, in this drivetrain, it provides a pathway for stray currents to flow and thereby causing Damage to the gears and the bearings. And this idea from ZF Investus, takes that tube and makes it out of plastic. Seems like a really simple change, Phil. Philip Totaro: It is, but what’s interesting about it is a couple of things. First, not only that, that kind of physical interpretation of this idea to just have a, a portion of what would otherwise be a, a metallic but non structural component just changed over to plastic, it might seem like a really simple, stupid idea. But I gotta be honest, like, a lot of times, those are the things that A, are gonna help you with maintenance or otherwise solve a problem that’s being caused by the fact that you were using the metal in the first place. The other aspect of this is the fact that, because this is a joint, patent application between ZF and Vestas. This is potentially technology that’s already being used on the large onshore machines. We’re talking about the V162, V172 kind of product families or the large offshore machines like the V236 and, and above. So, the fact that we know that there’s a commercial tie in between ZF and Vestas on those those gearboxes means that we hope to be able to see this kind of technology used in real life applications soon. Joel Saxum: Yeah, Allen and I being part of the lightning world, and of course, Allen being an electrical engineer, we hear about a lot of problems within turbines with stray voltage, whether it’s static buildup or stray voltage coming from the turbine itself, and disregard the idea of even lightning moving around. They can wreak havoc on electronics. They can throw alarms that you don’t want to see. They can ruin coatings. They can do all kinds of things. So Vestas and ZF looking at, Fixing this problem. Maybe it’s something that they’ve learned and lesson learned from or something that they’re foreseeing good on them. And it’s good to see innovations like this making their way into the market. Allen Hall: All right. Our next patent idea is on a rotor blade and, and painting the rotor blade, different colors to reduce the visual impact. Now this is really fascinating. So the concept goes like this. You, you take, you paint a part near the hub, a lighter color. color. And then as you move out towards the tip, you paint that a darker color, like the color of the sky. So it’s blue or maybe even the color of the ground, green or brown to, to match the landscape. So when the rotor is spinning, this color gradation creates an optical illusion that makes the overall rotor diameter appear about 10 to 20 percent smaller than its actual size. Now, the only thing I can compare this to, Phil, is when you walk into a home and they have Two differently painted colored walls and the shape of the room changes. It’s an optical illusion of sorts. It sounds like that’s what they’re headed for in this painting scheme for wind turbine blades. Philip Totaro: It is. And this, so for those that aren’t familiar, this is a pa...
Transcribe →Why Are Australian Wind Farms Losing Money?
Nov 5, 202400:48:54Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Allen, Joel, Phil and Rosemary analyze why 38% of Australian wind farms are struggling with profitability despite stable PPAs. They explore how solar saturation, coal plant inflexibility, and maintenance contract structures impact returns. Plus, the team examines BlueFloat Energy’s withdrawal from New Zealand and what recent auction results in Maine reveal about the broader challenges facing floating offshore wind development. 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.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference – https://www.windaustralia.com Allen Hall: It is almost fall. I guess it is fall. Joel Saxum: It’s almost November. Allen Hall: I was just outside today. It was like 70 degrees outside. It felt like the end of summer, not the beginning of fall. But we’re almost in winter. We got another month or two before we hit the official start of winter, which means all the bears up in my area are starting to thinking about hibernating. But in the meantime, they’re usually pretty hungry, trying to fatten up before the winter really hits. And This causes a lot of problems if you’re around bears, and a lady in Montana had a problem where she went out to work in her pickup truck early in the morning and realized that it had been all torn apart by a black bear, of all things, which is the thing that I worry about the most around here. At this time of year, when you’re bringing in things from the house, and a bear shows up and says, Oh, there’s groceries in the car, hops in, and then panics, which is what happened to this lady. The bear panics and just destroys the vehicle. And this has happened very close to us, actually. And not that long ago, it was this summer, where bears were walking in our driveway, walked right by my wife, she didn’t even know it was there. So it’s serious that don’t leave your car doors open. That’s the one thing I remember in the fall. Don’t leave your car doors open for any length of time. Otherwise, when you go back, you may have befriended a bear. Philip Totaro: Allen, I’ve seen videos where they’re opening car doors. So don’t even think about, you can close the door and they’re still gonna get in. So I don’t know, man. They’re getting sophisticated out there. Joel Saxum: I’ve got another tip for you from my childhood. You always put your trash out in the morning. Before your kids go to school, before you go to work, put your trash out in the morning on the street. Because if you put your trash out outside of your garage the night before, you’re gonna end up with trash all over the ground and the garbage man won’t pick it up and you, i. e. me, as a young child, would have to go pick up all of our trash multiple times. So that’s the hot tip. Allen Hall: It’s either the bears, the raccoons, or the wildcats. Those are the ones you really have to watch out for. Get a cat down in your neighborhood because it can do a lot of damage. Joel Saxum: You would think that Allen lived in like Northwest territories or something and not in Massachusetts. Allen Hall: I can walk out my back door and pet deer right now. That’s how close they’re sitting next to the house. Cause it’s hunting season also where I am and all the deer join into town. They’re hanging up. Yeah, there’s, they’re not stupid. Joel, he’s in the Berkshires. This is the wilderness. This is about as wilderness as you can get in Massachusetts. Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall, and I’ll be joined by my Uptime co host, Chris. After these news headlines. New England’s floating offshore wind sector marked a milestone as their Bureau of Ocean Energy Management selected winning bids totaling 22 million for four lease areas in the Gulf of Maine. Two lease areas were awarded to Avangrade Renewable for areas approximately 35 miles from Massachusetts, while Invenergy Offshore Wind secured two leases about 25 miles from the coast. The combined areas covering more than 625 square miles At the potential to power over 2. 3 million homes, this marks the first offshore commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic coast, supporting the administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. In Texas, Nova Clean Energy has secured interconnection agreements for a 1 gigawatt wind power portfolio. Construction is set to begin in late 2025, with power delivery scheduled for the winter of 2026. These projects located in the Delaware Basin and Central Gulf Coast will include co located battery storage. International energy giant BP continues its strategic shift away from renewables under new leadership. The company is now considering a minority stake sale in its offshore wind business. which has a project pipeline of nearly 10 gigawatts but no operational farms. This follows BP’s early decision to put its U. S. onshore wind energy business up for sale, which currently operates nine facilities across seven states with 1. 7 gigawatts of generating capacity. The company has also paused new offshore wind project bidding and plans to reduce its solar exposure through a stake sale. in light source BP, marking a significant pivot in its energy transition strategy. A startup backed by Breakthrough Energy has secured an additional 4 million in funding for its innovative floating wind platform. Aikido Technologies will launch its pilot project this fall, featuring a design that reduces assembly footprint by 75 percent and enables deployment from 80 percent of U. S. ports. And a delegation of 19 Dutch wind industry executives met with the Connecticut officials at The State Pier in New London, Connecticut, to explore collaboration opportunities in offshore wind development. The Dutch group, representing expertise from cabling to marine biodiversity, aims to share decades of experience from their domestic market, where wind power supplies up to 50 percent of the country’s electricity. The meeting coincided with construction at the State Pier, which is serving as the staging area for the Revolution Wind Project. Both sides emphasize the potential for joint research, shared knowledge, and manufacturing partnerships to reduce costs in the offshore wind energy sector. And French energy company Total Energies has announced plans to study A major renewable energy project in Morocco, the Shibika project, could combine one gigawatt of wind and solar capacity to produce green ammonia for export to Europe, potentially creating a significant hydrogen production hub. That’s this week’s top news stories. After the break, I’ll be joined by my co host, renewable energy expert and founder of Pardalote Consulting. Rosemary Barnes, the CEO and founder of IntelStor, Phil Totaro, and the Chief Commercial Officer of Weather Guard, Joel Saxum. As wind energy professionals, staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it, difficult. That’s why the Uptime Podcast recommends PES Wind magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit PESWind. com today. So if we’ve been following along in Australia, Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy has about a 14 gigawatts of a development pipeline and they have announced plans for the Bookham Wind Farm project in New South Wales. That project will be, it looks like 99 turbines, With a capacity of almost 600 megawatts, so six megawatt turbines there. The project includes battery storage, and it is one of the several products that are happening in Australia at the minute. Now, I did a little bit of research on this project, and one thing, there’s a lot of details about it, but the one thing I could not find is what turbine they were going to install at the site. <...
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Avangrid Sells Kitty Hawk North, Saudi Arabia Localizes Towers
Nov 4, 202400:08:33Tap to summarizeThis week on Uptime News Flash, Avangrid sells the Kitty Hawk North lease area to Dominion Energy. In Saudia Arabia, the government signed two major localization agreements for wind energy steel towers. And Enerjisa Üretim has secured a major 1 billion 10 year term loan for the development of the YEKA 2 wind power plant. Welcome to Uptime News Flash. Industry news lightning fast. Your hosts, Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, and Phil Totaro discuss the latest deals, mergers, and alliances that will shape the future of wind power. News Flash is brought to you by Intelstor. For market intelligence that generates revenue, visit www.intelstor.com. Allen Hall: Well, Phil, Saudi Arabia has taken a significant step forward in its wind energy sector with the signing of two major localization agreements for wind energy steel towers. The agreements were signed by the Kingdom’s Local Content and Government Procurement Authority with Al Yamama Steel Industries and Arabian International Company for Steel Structures. These deals are part of a large initiative that saw 107 agreements and memorandums of understanding signed during the Energy Localization Forum in Riyadh, valued at approximately 27 billion. I didn’t realize there was that much money in steel towers, Phil, but wow. These agreements are impressive. Philip Totaro: Yeah, that that’s for all agreements that they sign, not just the steel tower ones to, to clarify for everybody. But the, the interesting tidbit with this is the fact that, they obviously have a couple of, wind farms now in Saudi Arabia, one that’s operational, one under construction, as well as a demo turbine from GE from, from a few years back. And they’re, they’re at a point where they’re really looking at the future of renewable energy for themselves in, in their domestic market so that they can, have more control over, how much oil they export and, and where they export it to moving forward. So this gives them another knob to turn if they can use this renewable power for the power generation. Industry instead of leveraging their own oil abundant though it may be, they all recognize that there’s a finite amount. So this is part of their efforts at domestication of part of the industry that they see as, as being an important element for them moving forward. So much so that their public investment fund has, has, Also made moves in the past to, put money behind renewable ventures in in Europe and Asia and even looking at the United States as well. So, this is them taking a step forward in terms of their renewable energy market. Joel Saxum: Yeah, Saudi Arabia keeps on basically reinventing itself and, and morphing into something that it wasn’t in the past, which is very interesting. I, for one, I follow the, the Neom project very closely because it’s really interesting to me. So they’re spending a lot of money. I mean, they even went as far as to lure a lot of the PGA players away for their own golf league. And now they’re setting up with Dana White from the UFC, they’re setting up their own boxing league. So they’re doing a lot of things. They’re taking advantage of, of course, the money they have now to try and build what their economy is for the future. And, they have been a classically oil and gas economy. And, and that’s where a lot of their sovereign wealth comes from. So they have the capabilities to make large structures and invest in, in, in industry. So going to steel towers for wind makes absolute sense for them. Allen Hall: Avangrid has successfully closed the sale of its Kitty Hawk North offshore wind lease area to Dominion Energy. The transaction was completed for 160 million dollars, comprising a lease acquisition payment of 117 million plus development cost reimbursement. While selling the northern section, Avangrade retains ownership of Kitty Hawk South, which has the potential to deliver 2. 4 gigawatts of power to North Carolina, Virginia, and other states and private companies. Well, Phil, Dominion Energy is now a big player in offshore wind with the Coastal Virginia offshore wind project, and now Kitty Hawk North. Philip Totaro: Yes, and this is really interesting for Avangard’s sake as well, because it gives them an extra 160 million of which they just recently committed a few million up in Maine. So it gives them some cash to, to redeploy in other lease areas and, and other development sites that they’ve got on the queue for the United States. They were intending to bid in the Oregon lease auction that also got postponed. So it’s interesting to note that, they, they obviously still went forward with this lease area asset sale to Dominion that has clearly, got their act together when it comes to getting the capital together and necessary for, for building major projects and, and moving forward with with building major projects. So, Dominion’s off and running, and this gives VonGrid a little bit extra cash so that they can hopefully pursue additional project developments here and, and take the, the U. S. offshore wind sector into, the, the next phase that we’ve all anticipated for a number of years. Joel Saxum: Yeah, one thing to talk about Dominion here as we follow the offshore wind play in the United States is they’re, they’re quietly getting it done. Down in Virginia. That coastal Virginia offshore wind is one of the largest projects that’s continuously been being built. Hasn’t had any interruptions. They’ve got a lot of steel in the water down there. They’re, they’re up and running. So Dominion starting to, has having that success. They’re looking to another play just north of them. So they’re keep keeping your assets close. And also doing a build on the success that they’ve had in construction right now. So good for them. Allen Hall: Enerjisa Üretim has secured a major 1 billion 10 year term loan for the development of the Yeka II wind power plant. The loan will finance nine wind power projects across three of Turkey’s provinces, with completion targeted for the first quarter of 2026. The loan structure includes an 18 month grace period with six month interval payments extending through 2034. Boy, that’s Getting financing for wind projects in Turkey just got a lot easier, Phil. Philip Totaro: Well, and so there’s a couple of things that are important and noteworthy with this this deal. First is that, for those that don’t know, Enerjisa is a joint venture between Sibanki Holding, which is a Turkish company, and E. ON, the, the German utility company. And they’ve been doing a lot of project development in Turkey for a number of years. I forget precisely how many megawatts they own at this point, but it’s it’s over a hundred megawatts. Let’s put it that way. And this, this new finance part of which is actually coming from the U. S. International Development Finance Corporation, which is kind of the upgrade and replacement to our overseas. Private Investment Corporation, OPIC. So the, the DFC again, the, the International Development Finance Corporation, they have, the opportunity to make investments with different. Companies are in different, projects, including renewable energy of which their, their predecessor company OPEC and the DFC have, have done over the years. And this actually is, in my mind, a bit of a good sign. Although they could have been investing in, maybe a U. S. based company that wanted to go overseas, but different, different topic. But we talk all the time on the show about how the Chinese government is subsidizing Chinese companies in their foreign investments and through their Belt and Road Initiative and other subsidies they receive. This is the U. S. government getting out their wallet and supporting at least a company that, to Energisa’s credit, they, they do source turbines from Germany’s Enercon and Nordex Essiona. So, the, we’re, we’re at least not contributing to China’s growth in the Turkish market with, with this investment, but. Besides the, the DFC you’ve got J. P. Morgan HSBC, KFW, IPEX from Germany, the German Investment Corporation Act Bank which is Tur Turkish bank and pro Parco who have also invested in this. So, this, billion dollar fund for, for 750 megawatts is, is a great thing that they’re gonna be able to, to deploy that capital for. Building additional wind energy capacity in, in Turkey.
Transcribe →Blades USA Focuses on Future of Wind Energy
Mar 29, 2023Tap to summarizeWere you at Blades USA last week? This episode was recorded live in Austin!We saw a lot of progress and heard about the need for more data and better solutions, especially for predictive analysis and predictive maintenance. Rosemary and Allen break down how data gathering and management are helping to find blade faults during the warranty period. Which is obviously good for owners and operators, and maybe in the long run, good for OEMs too. Speaking of OEMs, Rosemary offers great insight into the many ways blades can be at risk before they’re even installed, and what operators need to know, and do, to minimize their liability. She may have a little advice for OEMs, too. Tune in for that, and also to find out what the industry is beginning tounderstand about lightning damage. Our Wind Farm of the Week segment returns next week. 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 158 Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m here with Blade Guru and Australian renewable expert, Rosemary Barnes. This particular episode we’re going to dedicate to the Blades USA Forum and some of the, the presentations I have seen today wrapped around sort of blade maintenance and how. keep your blades as as good as you can, working to produce energy. It’s a tough business if you’re an operator or an independent service provider. It’s rough. There’s a lot of work to keep blades running. So we’re gonna hear about that and, and then we’ll talk a little about some of the secondary. Problems with blades, mostly lightning, which was a very hot topic this week, so stay tuned and it’s gonna be a great show. Rosemary, I’m in Austin, Texas for the Blades USA Forum this week. It is packed. And you’re missing out. You should be. You should be in Texas. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. I I, I’m a bit jealous. But maybe, maybe next year. Yeah, there’s, Allen Hall: there’s a, a lot of good presentations. This is the first day, there’s another day tomorrow. So this is Wednesday when we’re recording. And there’s all kinds of. Vendors and different kinds of presentations. And I, I really wanted to talk to you as a blade expert because this is a Blades US Forum, U usa blades USA Forum about all the different activities around blades and whether you can kind of shed some light on whether some of these things are gonna become reality or is it just nice to haves because the presentations were really. Had a lot of different perspectives. So let, let me, let me give you some, gimme some general highlights. There was a really, actually a really good presentation on all the data and there that seems to be a, a big emphasis here is we need more data. And I came to the same conference last year. It’s in Austin also. And the, the, the emphasis last year was, Hey, we gotta do two things. We need to get more data and we need to be able to categorize damage. . So that’s like a, a mostly a universal standard to holes in blades. Like is it a level one? Not, so don’t worry about it, I’m just gonna monitor it. Or is it a level five? I gotta do something immediately. Those are the two big ones. On the data side, it was by getting more drone images and and instrumenting blades. So over the last. , there’s been a lot more drone images and more emphasis on actually putting in sensors in these blades. Now, now, now the engineers who, like you, always want more data and I always want more data. Now that they have the data, they can’t process it all. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I think that’s pretty, pretty normal situation. , I think it’s Allen Hall: a little funny cuz it had a chuckle if you have a thousand turbines in your portfolio. It’s almost impossible to sort through all those drone images. And then the, the subject becomes, well, how do we try to categorize all that data so we can actually do some predictive analysis? Like these particular blades made from this particular factory are gonna have this particular problem in a year. That was where the, the industry ceases to be going, and that from an OEM perspective. Does that make sense for someone who made blades like you, does that make, does that make sense? Is, is that the right approach to what to do with that data? Rosemary Barnes: OEMs probably don’t like it because if you’re doing that, then you’re finding faults e earlier than they would’ve otherwise, and so you’ll find them within the warranty period when you might have previously found them out of the warranty period. So maybe the OEMs don’t like it, but in the work that I’m doing now, Consulting company, Ute Consulting. I’m doing a lot of work on, on blade defects, and what I am seeing is that it’s not just about having data and analyzing the data, it’s about the quality of the data as well. Because, I mean, I feel like when you said at the start, we need more drone images and I, I, the last thing that, that I need in the projects I’m working on is more drone images. What I need is for the drone images to actually. Do what they’re supposed to do and pick up the damage because you know, an, an image that shows that doesn’t show damage that you went looking for is worse than having nothing. At least if you didn’t have that image, you wouldn’t know whether there was damage or not. But when you have a drone, go up there and say, this, this turbine’s all clear, go for it. And then it turns out later. Oh, actually you, these 10% of these blades do have this defect and they were previously all cleared for it. You know, that’s, that’s obviously worse than, than not knowing anything at all. So I hope that people aren’t getting too far ahead of themselves, but I. Do think that they are, because I see, you know, some of the projects that I work on or the campaigns that I work on, you, you see, you know, drone images and they go with a different company, then they go with a different company. And so you know, the, the quality is the quantity. Is too high and the quality is too low Currently, or at least I think that there are some players that are doing good work, but not everybody is, and not everybody is using the good ones. So I, I would like to see some better way to be able to you know, qualify a drone in inspection and, you know, like there could be standardization or, you know, , yeah. Some, some sort of certification that, yeah, this this drone technology is able to, you know, pick up these kinds of defects and certified by a third party. That would be super, super, super useful. Cause at the moment it does feel a bit like the Wild West where people, you know, seem to pick a drone inspection company at random. And then yeah, like I said, you end up. A real, a false sense of security, which is, which is terrible because yeah, I’ve definitely worked on many projects that where blades have been cleared as been free of a defect. And then months later when, you know, somebody went up and rope access found that the defect was there the whole time. Allen Hall: There was a couple presentations showing the progression of damage transverse cracks being probably the biggest issue. Like, what do you do with this? And it. Highly loaded area. You don’t want to go in there and start repairing it too early. And if it, if, if the blade’s gonna survive for its lifetime, probably don’t wanna touch it at all. And there was some, there were some really interesting photos watching that. But they, they, in order to do that sort of progression study, you need to take drone inspection photographs at least twice a. . That’s the only way you can then predict and create a model. I guess what it sounded like in order to create a model of what that crack is gonna propagate, like you nee...
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