Two Crises at Once
In the summer of 2022, while Congress negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act, people in several entire neighborhoods in Athens, Georgia received notice that their monthly rent was increasing several hundred dollars, their Section 8 vouchers would no longer be honored, and they had one month to decide whether to stay or go. Many tenants in these mostly Black neighborhoods had lived for years in their homes, some for decades. Long enough to fix up the kitchen, see the neighbors’ children grow up, and build community. And, long enough to see apartments fall into disrepair and the septic system become overwhelmed. Housing investors from out of state bought several whole neighborhoods, raised rents, rejected vouchers, and displaced over a hundred households. Some of the tenants organized, attempting to pressure the developers or seek help from elected officials. The community’s pleas to the property developers were largely ignored, and the local government had limited options for an emergency response. A few people were able to pay the higher rent. Most people just had to try to find another place to live in a town where rents are rising due to many pressures and the supply of affordable housing does not meet the needs. Many people had to move out of the county or become homeless.
The Summer of 2022 was also the hottest summer on record, until the record was broken the following year. A few months later, in December, the South experienced an extreme and unusual winter storm with record low temperatures across the country, including in Athens. It is hard to know where the displaced residents went or how many people were still unsheltered by then. By January, 2023, the city’s homeless population had increased by 20% over the previous year’s count, following an upward trend that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Athens is not unique. All over the south and across the country, communities are grappling with a lack of affordable housing to meet the needs of the people who work and live in cities, small towns, and even rural communities.
According to a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Institution, no state in the United States has an adequate supply of affordable housing. And all over the south and across the country, climate disasters are increasing. These two major problems are linked. Their solutions are too.
Affordable Housing and Climate Change
Lack of affordable housing makes people and communities more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and climate disasters. As weather becomes more extreme in a changing climate, the unaffordability or inability to properly heat and cool inefficient homes can contribute to weather-related health problems; and extreme heat poses even greater threats to unhoused people, who are often displaced by unaffordable housing prices. People with few resources may be forced to live in places where they are more exposed to climate risks, such as flooding or urban heat islands, in order to be able to afford housing. This displacement can also contribute to urban sprawl, which can lead people to travel further by car and contribute to rising emissions. Meanwhile high utility costs, which disproportionately burden low-income residents, are often indicative of inefficient housing that lacks enough insulation and leaks air during cold and hot weather. Inefficient housing drives up residents’ bills while wasting energy and unnecessarily burning polluting fuels.
Improving housing can shore up our communities and protect vulnerable populations while lowering climate emissions. Layering climate-smart practices with efforts to preserve affordable housing can stabilize communities and make them more resilient to the threats of climate disasters while also driving down harmful pollution that causes climate change.
Building new housing with climate in mind can provide safe, healthy, and affordable housing for the workforce necessary to build the new electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries, and associated goods that will allow us to accomplish the energy transition.
Inefficient housing makes it harder for residents to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
At the same time while the Athens residents were receiving their rent notices, during that hottest-summer-ever-until-the-next-summer, Congress passed the IRA on party line votes, directing historic funding to low-income communities like the ones affected by the housing crisis in Athens. Several programs in the IRA are aimed at building community resilience, improving existing affordable housing with climate-smart retrofits, and encouraging energy efficiency in new construction. Local governments, affordable housing owners, and nonprofit organizations can take advantage of historic funding targeted to disadvantaged communities through the Justice40 initiative.
These programs will not be enough alone to solve the climate crisis or the affordable housing crisis, but they can begin to shift the trends. Below are some of the opportunities available now. If you know of a property owner, local government, or community based organization who might be eligible for any of these programs, please send this blog post to them and encourage them to look into it!
Funding and Assistance Available Now
Below are several IRA programs that are available now. Some programs are for communities meeting specific criteria, and some are more broadly available.
These programs are subject to the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, an executive order that sets the goal of delivering at least 40% of the benefits of funding for climate and clean energy to communities defined as “disadvantaged” by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
HUD Thriving Communities Technical Assistance
What does it do?
The HUD Thriving Communities Technical Assistance program (TCTA) will support coordination and integration of transportation and housing in infrastructure planning and implementation. The TCTA is part of an interagency initiative among the Department of Transportation, HUD, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the General Services Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Who is it for?
TCTA is for local governments that have received federal funding for transportation projects and want to explore options for addressing local housing needs while completing infrastructure projects. For example, a community that has a project to construct multimodal improvements and connect a disadvantaged community could include TCTA to preserve affordable housing in the community.
When is it due?
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Analysis:
The TCTA program can help local governments make the most of opportunities to address multiple community needs and get guidance on how to meet community priorities that cross federal agency boundaries. Often, infrastructure projects have consequences for affordable housing in communities. Receiving technical assistance across agencies could help mitigate the potential negative impacts and ensure that communities see better outcomes from current transportation projects.
HUD Green and Resilient Retrofits Program
What does it do?
The Green and Resilient Retrofits Program (GRRP) provides three different grants to help property owners add energy efficiency and resilience measures to existing affordable multi-family housing. The three programs are called Elements, Leading Edge, and Comprehensive. Which cohort fits a project best depends on where the project is in relation to the recapitalization process and how ambitious the property owner wants to be.
The Elements program provides up to $750,000 per property for gap funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon emissions reduction, and / or climate resilience measures. Gap funding allows the owner to finance the additional cost of the measures. For example, if a property owner is planning to replace windows in housing units, this grant could provide the additional funding needed to purchase high-efficiency windows instead of lower efficiency windows. To be eligible for this grant, properties must be in the process of recapitalization (a process whereby the owner uses third-party financing to make improvements on the property).
The Leading Edge program provides up to $10 million per property for projects where the owner is interested in pursuing an advanced green certification (examples of green building certifications at this link). Measures could include: energy efficiency, renewable energy, materials with lower embodied carbon, and other resiliency measures.
The Comprehensive program provides up to $20 million per property to properties with extensive needs for energy efficiency and climate resilience. Under this program, HUD provides owners with substantial assistance through recapitalization and the green building process.
Who is it for?
This program has grants for owners of existing HUD-subsidized multifamily housing that are in need of eligible updates. Most eligible properties fall under Section 8, including project-based rental assistance housing with housing assistance payment contracts (PBRA with HAP), Section 202 housing (for the elderly), Section 811 housing (for people with disabilities), and Section 236 (housing preservation). The GRRP is not for non-Section 8 public housing (for example, housing projects owned by public housing authorities), properties that accept housing vouchers but do not have HUD subsidies, or homes owned by low-income homeowners. You can use this map to identify HUD assisted multifamily housing projects in your community, but not all of the identified properties fall under Section 8.
When are they due?
Elements Deadline: March 28, 2024 (Elements NOFO)
Leading Edge: April 30, 2024 (Leading Edge NOFO)
Comprehensive: May 30, 2024 (Comprehensive NOFO)
Analysis:
The HUD GRRP grants could help preserve and maintain existing affordable housing units, and improve the health and wellbeing of residents. These grants are limited to certain properties in specific conditions, so they may not be widely useful across communities, but will make a big impact where eligible properties take advantage of the grants.
Environmental Justice Community Change Grants
What do they do?
Safe and affordable housing is a crucial condition for delivering environmental justice, particularly to communities that have faced disproportionate harm from housing policies that have segregated people by race and restricted access to housing and homeownership for Black and brown people in the United States. The EPA’s new Environmental Justice Community Change Grants program is one of many efforts by the Biden administration to deliver investments and opportunities to disadvantaged communities and begin to redress the harms of past policies. While these grants are not targeted specifically at housing, the goal of these place-based grants to “reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environment and climate justice challenges” could align well with community goals to improve affordable housing in communities through clean energy, energy efficiency, and other climate resilience measures. Read our Environmental Justice Community Change Grants blog to find out more about these grants.
Who are they for?
Community-based organizations (CBOs) that are governmentally recognized as nonprofits can apply for the Environmental Justice Community Change Grants in partnership with at least one other CBO, or in partnership with tribal governments, institutes of higher education, or local governments.
When are they due?
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until November 2024.
Analysis:
The EPA’s Community Change Grants represent huge opportunities for communities to address complex environmental justice problems through community-driven solutions. Safe, affordable housing is just one aspect of environmental justice that could be realized for communities through this grant program. These grants could make a big impact on communities that have often been left out of the benefits of federal investments.
Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
What do they do?
Agencies in most states and the largest metropolitan centers in the Southeast are currently engaged in developing priority action plans to reduce climate pollution through the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (CPRG). Plans will be submitted to EPA by March 1, 2024. Once plans are submitted, local governments will have until April 1, 2024 to apply for short-term, “shovel-ready” implementation grants (due May 1 for tribes).
State or local governments for whom affordable housing is a high priority could apply for CPRG implementation grants that provide for energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric vehicle charging, and other climate pollution reducing actions in affordable housing. See SACE’s letter to Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation for example for how CPRG can be used for investing in multifamily affordable housing. For these projects to be included, planning agencies must include them as priorities in their planning grants, so it is important for communities to notify planning agencies that this is a priority for their community. For more information on how to provide feedback to CPRG planning agencies, check out our blog at this link.
Who are they for?
Local or tribal governments, states, and state agencies must lead in implementation grant applications. Local governments are encouraged to form coalitions with other local governments, and can also include community-based organizations, institutions, or private companies as coalition partners.
When are they due?
State, local, and tribal governments must apply for CPRG implementation grants by April 1, 2024.
Analysis:
Residential and commercial buildings are a key sector for climate emissions. While the CPRG program allows for broad measures, communities that are focused on rehabilitating housing could benefit from applying CPRG funds to energy efficiency and clean energy measures for affordable housing.
Tax Credits
What do they do?
The IRA included many tax credits for homeowners, developers, and builders to make home improvements such as energy efficiency, solar, batteries, and electric vehicle chargers.. Some base tax credits can be increased if developers deliver the benefits of clean energy and energy efficiency to low-income residents. The tax credits also encourage local workforce development by providing credit adders if developers pay prevailing wages, establish apprenticeship programs, and locate projects in low-income communities.
The New Energy Efficient Homes tax credit (Section 45 L) provides up to $2,500 per single family home (site built or manufactured), and up to $500 per multifamily unit for builders of new housing that meets ENERGY STAR specifications. This tax credit does not require the housing to meet affordability standards, but the builders could access additional credits if they pay prevailing wages. This tax credit is stackable with Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Only builders can access this tax credit–it is not available to local governments through direct pay.
The Investment Tax Credit for Energy Property (ITC) has been newly increased and extended under the IRA. The tax credit could go to a building owner or other entity that installs solar or battery energy storage systems on a property. The ITC includes additional credits for locating the project on low income-housing, benefitting low-income residents, and meeting prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. If all conditions are met, the developer can get up to 70% credit on the investment.
The Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit (AFITC) provides up to 30% tax credit for electric vehicle chargers that are installed in rural or lower-income areas. To receive the full tax credit, developers must meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
Who are they for?
The New Energy Efficient Homes tax credit (Section 45 L) is for builders of new single family or multifamily housing. This tax credit is stackable with Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Only builders can access this tax credit–it is not available to local governments through direct pay.
The Investment Tax Credit for Energy Property (ITC) (Section 48) is for property owners or other entities that install solar or batteries on a property. The ITC is eligible for direct pay, so local governments and nonprofits that do not have a tax liability can receive a payment in lieu of the tax credit. There is also a residential version of this tax credit for residents’ homes.
The Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit (AFITC) (Section 30C), also known as the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit, is for property owners or other entities that install electric vehicle chargers or other alternative fuel equipment. The ITC is eligible for direct pay, so local governments and nonprofits that do not have a tax liability can receive a payment in lieu of the tax credit. There is also a residential version of this tax credit for owner-occupied homes.
When are they due?
The IRA tax credits are extended at current levels through 2032. Developers and builders can apply for the credits for the year when the project was completed.
Analysis:
The IRA tax credits provide opportunities for new and existing affordable housing. Building owners and developers who apply these credits can help residents lower their bills and reduce pollution, while increasing property value and reducing tenant turnover rate. Local governments can work to make sure that developers in their communities are aware of the tax credits, and may have opportunities to encourage developers and building owners to take advantage of tax credits to improve affordable housing in their communities.
Home Energy Rebates
What do they do?
The Department of Energy Home Energy Rebate Program provides rebates for home upgrades that reduce energy use. The rebates can be used for whole home upgrades, including insulation and weatherization. Rebates can also be used to offset the cost of new energy efficient appliances, such as electric stoves, heat pump HVAC equipment, and electric heat pump dryers, as well as electrical wiring and panel upgrades. Some of the rebate programs are designed for low-income households, with upfront rebates up to 100% allowed under the legislation for people earning below 80% of the area median income.
Who are they for?
The DOE Home Energy Rebates programs will be administered by state energy offices, which may develop their own eligibility criteria within the elements of the legal framework of the IRA. Homeowners and renters may be eligible for the funds, and building owners or other entities performing the work can access the funds on behalf of residents. Many of the rebate programs will be designed to be used by low-income households.
When are they due?
Most states are currently developing their rebate plans, and most programs are expected to be open by fall 2024. The rebate program is enabled to run through September 30, 2031.
Analysis:
The Home Energy Rebate programs will make available hundreds of millions of dollars to states in the Southeast to upgrade low income homes. Unlike tax credits, the rebate programs have a limited pool of funding. It could make sense for states to target funds to benefit the most vulnerable populations who may not otherwise be able to access funding for home energy upgrades.
Stay Up to Date With SACE
Affordable housing and climate change can be addressed together with investments for local governments, nonprofit organizations, and housing developers. Above, we have outlined some of the opportunities available now, but there are more coming. At SACE, we are always looking for ways for our members to advocate for their communities to thrive with investments in climate and clean energy. To stay up to date as new grants and programs open up, join us on our next Clean Energy Generation monthly call.
Click Here to Join the Clean Energy Generation
The post Meeting the Climate Crisis with Investments in Affordable Housing appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Meeting the Climate Crisis with Investments in Affordable Housing
As shown here, there are (formerly credible) people who are telling us that Trump is restoring Americans’ trust in government.
Do they truly believe this?
One of the casualties of the post-truth era is that the statements of our “leaders” no longer are required to have any basis in fact. What Jim Jordan says here is a fine example.
When he says “better” here, is he referring to runaway inflation? Trump’s purposeless and illegal war with no end in sight? His blatant corruption and criminality? His having, quite successfully, divided the American people into groups that hate each other? The enrichment of billionaires at the expense of the working class? The carefully engineered collapse of the environment so as to favor his donors in fossil fuels? The demise of the U.S. educational system?
Please be clear.
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
CNC Onsite Cuts Repair Costs With Uptower Machining
Søren Kellenberger, CEO of CNC Onsite, joins to discuss uptower yaw gear repairs, flat tower flanges, and replacing 1,000 blade root bushings across 26 turbines.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter 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 YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
Allen Hall 2025: Soren, welcome back to the podcast.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you, Allen, and, uh, nice doing it, uh, face-to-face- Yes, it’s great … and not as a team, uh, call. Right. That’s
Allen Hall 2025: true. Yeah. You’ve been doing a good bit of traveling, and you’re the new head of CNC Onsite.
Søren Kellenberger: I am, yes.
Allen Hall 2025: So congratulations on that.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you very much.
Allen Hall 2025: And all the exciting new things that CNC Onsite [00:01:00] is doing, plus all the things you have developed and are now out in the field implementing, the, the list goes on and on and on.
I’m alwa- every time I talk to you, “Oh, we got a new-” Yeah … “machine to do something uptower.” So it’s all uptower, which is the, the beauty of CNC Onsite. You’re thinking about the operator and the cost to pull the blades off and do lifting the cell off and all those things. If we can do it uptower, we can save 30, 40, 50% of the cost of a repair.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s where CNC Onsite is just really killing it. You guys are doing great. Thank
Søren Kellenberger: you. Of course, we like what we do, but, uh, thank you.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, it’s good, it’s good. And, and so w- let’s talk about the things that I know about, and we’ll start there, and then we’ll go to all the new things you’re doing.
So the one that I see a lot of operators asking about is yaw tooth. Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: Uh,
Allen Hall 2025: deformations, broken teeth on the yaw gear. That’s a big problem. And when I talk to [00:02:00] technicians, and I have them texting me about this, like, “Oh, well, I just weld on the gear back on, weld the tooth back on.” That’s a short-term solution.
That’s not gonna be long-term. The long-term solution is the CNC Onsite. Can you explain what you do to permanently fix these yaw gear problems?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. So what we do is actually we start by getting information about the, uh, original yaw ring, so the dimension of the teeth, and we get some load data. And, uh, then we start designing a replacement segment.
Uh, so what we ac- the process is actually that we bring a CNC controlled machine uptower, mount it on the yaw ring, and then we mill away that worn area, uh, creating a small pocket. And then those, uh, segments that we have designed, they are prefabricated. We bring them up and mount them in, in that, uh, pocket and bring the- The yaw ring back to where it’s, you can say, original design, uh, [00:03:00] that way.
Yeah
Allen Hall 2025: It’s better than the original design, ’cause you’re actually putting in better teeth than the, the manufacturer did originally.
Søren Kellenberger: True. Yeah, yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So that happens, so you’re, you’re machining out those old teeth, broken teeth, putting the new set of teeth in th- and that all bolts in, and that’s it. That’s it.
But the, the difficulty is getting the machinery uptower to do that. That’s where a lot of your, your technology comes from, is getting this very accurate, uh, well-defined machine uptower and doing very controlled grinding and milling. Yes. So can you explain what that system looks like? If I’m gonna grind off those yaw, broken yaw teeth, how big is that kit?
Søren Kellenberger: It… Obviously, it depends a little bit on the turbine size. Sure, okay. Yeah. So, uh, it, so the, the newer five, six, uh, 10 megawatt turbines have larger teeth, so yeah, there you need a, a larger machine.
Allen Hall 2025: Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: But let’s say for, uh, Vestas three megawatt, the, the [00:04:00] complete machine weighs about 250 kilos. That’s it? So yeah.
So it, it comes up in smaller components. We just use, uh, the, the internal crane in, in the nacelle, and, uh, then we can lift the components to the yaw ring, assemble the machine, and then we are basically good to go. So it take, takes less than a day to get everything up and, uh, get set and be ready to, to machine.
Allen Hall 2025: So if you wanna fix a yaw gear problem, how long does it take from start to finish to get that done?
Søren Kellenberger: It typically, it takes one day to get everything up and get ready, and then per six teeth, which is a typical segment, it takes about a day to machine that. Okay. So, uh, let’s say you have, uh, somewhere between 10 and 15 teeth, it’s, uh, two to three segments.
So we do that in a week. Um-
Allen Hall 2025: Wow … and- ‘Cause the alternative is call a crane, have them lifting the cell off.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Take the yaw gear off, put a yaw gear on, if you can find a yaw gear. Yes. Put the nacelle back on. [00:05:00] Well, and I guess obviously the rotors are coming down too, so- Yeah. You’re talking about- Yes
hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime. Yeah. It’s a big ordeal. The CNC Onsite method is so much easier.
Søren Kellenberger: We will just put our equipment in the back of our truck- … and then, uh, we’ll, we are ready to mobilize in a few days. So yeah, we can significantly, uh, bring down the downtime and, and as you said, the crane cost is of course extremely high.
And then you can add all the project management. You know, con- do I actually have my access roads, uh, still available? Right. Is the crane pad intact? And all of that stuff you need to organize. You can just forget about that and, uh- And
Allen Hall 2025: get it done …
Søren Kellenberger: get it done. Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. There’s, there’s a lot of owners, we, everybody knows who the machines are that have the, the, the yaw tooth problem.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So if you’re one of those owner operators, you better get ahold of CNC Onsite. Now, flanges on tower sections. It’s become a, a really critical issue. You hear a lot of, of [00:06:00] operators, OEMs talking about, “I’m putting together these tower sections and those flanges don’t really meet up quite right.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yep.
Allen Hall 2025: “I’m creating uneven torque patterns, bolt pat- my bolt tightening is not quite right.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: And it never really seats right, so you have this mechanical, built-in mechanical problem. CNC Onsite is now fixing that so those flanges are actually really flat. Really flat, yes. ‘Cause that’s what you need.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. They’re highly loaded.
Søren Kellenberger: If, if you want, uh… If you want your joints to be, uh, basically maintenance free, uh, we can, uh, achieve that with machining the flanges. And then, of course, you need to be in control with your bolt tightening process. Sure. But if you do those two things, you can have maintenance free bolted connections, and there’s so much money to be saved in the operations.
Um, and of course, when you have these bolts that end up fatiguing, some of them don’t get caught in time and you end up ha- having a catastrophic failure on the turbine. Uh- We’ve [00:07:00] seen that … because you have that zipper effect. Once a bolt starts breaking, the neighboring ones take that extra load and it accelerates really quickly.
Uh, yeah. Sure does.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. It’s a very serious situation, but it starts with this very simple solution which is just make the flange flat.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. But I think it’s some… a part of the issue is that those buying the towers aren’t necessarily responsible for the operational cost of maintaining that bolted connection.
So they might save a little bit of money when they buy the tower sections with rougher tolerances, but you will spend the money 10 times in the operations. Uh, and, and that’s, I think that’s where some of the operations, uh, re- the, the, those responsible for operational costs should, uh, get a little bit more CapEx spend, uh- Oh, sure.
Yeah. And, and then, uh, actually save a lot of money and, and reduce risk. Uh, it’s a huge, huge risk
Allen Hall 2025: It’s, it’s one of those lessons learned. You [00:08:00] don’t know that they should be flat. You shouldn’t know… You don’t know your flanges should be flat until you experience the problems, and then you want all your flanges flat from here on out.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: But there’s only one way to do that really, and that’s to call CNC Onsite to come in and to make them flat.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Because it’s a difficult thing to do. You really need to have the machining prowess and the tight tolerances that CNC Onsite’s gonna deliver in a tool that can actually be adapted to that tower ring and make those surfaces flat.
It’s complicated. Exactly.
Søren Kellenberger: It is. Uh, but that is what we do every day, so, uh- Yes, I’ve noticed … yeah, so
Allen Hall 2025: so- You take on those challenges
Søren Kellenberger: So we are optimizing our machines to be not only fit for one-offs, but actually to go into a manufacturing, uh, process. So we have op- optimized our machines a lot with, uh, automatic alignment and, uh, stuff like that to, to really make that process, uh, easier.
Because it has been considered that when you had to machine a flange, you weren’t in [00:09:00] control with your production, uh, processes. But I think that is, um, a bit of a misinterpretation. It’s, it’s a little bit like saying when I have a casted component, I cannot get a bearing fit, uh, in my cast process. That’s not because your cast process is wrong, there’s just some limitations to what you can do.
Sure. And it’s basically the same here. Yes. And, and if you apply that con- uh, planned machining, you can gain some real benefits, uh, later on and the cost will, of course, drop dra- dramatically if you plan it, rather than call for one, uh, every time you have one that is out of tolerances and, and you can even narrow those tolerances down and get the benefits from maintenance-free bowler connections.
Allen Hall 2025: Right.
Søren Kellenberger: Uh-
Allen Hall 2025: Right, ’cause you’re gonna pay for it for the next 20, 30 years. Yeah. Yeah. That’s absolutely right. Now, you’re getting involved in some of the safety aspects of operating a turbine. Uh, some of the pins and the lockouts on the low-speed gearboxes get a little worn over time, so the hole [00:10:00] you put the pin in gets worn.
There’s a lot of loads on that and- Yeah … it starts to oblong out and eventually, if you’re trying to work on that gearbox, you’re trying to keep that and your technicians safe, which is what you’re doing- Yeah … that lockout pin doesn’t quite fit in the hole and it creates a little bit of a safety risk.
Yeah. So now CNC on-site’s coming in and saying, “Hey, wait a minute. We can realign that, clean that hole up, make that safe again.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yes.
Allen Hall 2025: Explain what that looks like and what that process is to do that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. So again, it’s the same thought like with the, with the O-ring, uh, that instead of bringing a component down and trying to fix it, we have designed some machinery we can bring uptower and then make that repair.
So basically what we do is that, that we mill that hole a little bit larger and then we bring a bushing, uh, that we, uh, freeze into that hole- Okay … and to recreate that tight fit again with a, with a locking pin. Uh, so it’s, it’s not that [00:11:00] complicated, but you still need to know, of course, what you are doing.
So finding the center of the original hole is one of the critical things because you want the center of the new ring to be in that same position- Sure … to make sure it fits with the pin
Allen Hall 2025: right. So- Right. You can’t just take a drill up there and try to clean out that hole. No, no. That is not the way to do that
That,
Søren Kellenberger: that
Allen Hall 2025: won’t work. No, no . I’m sure it’s been tried, but- Yeah … no, you wanna have accurate mach- actual, uh, tight tolerance machinery up there to, to align that hole, drill it properly, put that insert back into that spot- Yeah … which is gonna be a hardened insert so it’ll last longer, right?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah, yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So once you do that, y- it’s a permanent fix to a otherwise nagging problem.
That’s wonderful.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So, th- again, that kit just goes right uptower, right up the, the lift, right up the cl- crane- Exactly … and bang, you’re done. Yeah. Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: So all our machines are designed to be able to be lifted with the internal crane-
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah …
Søren Kellenberger: of that specific nacelle.
Allen Hall 2025: Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: So obviously as the cells go bigger, they have more load cap- uh- Me too
load capacity. Yeah. So for the smaller [00:12:00] turbines, the machines come in, in a bit smaller parts- Okay … so that we are sure we stay within that 250 or 500 kilogram or even whatever the limit is of, of that- Yeah, yeah, yeah … crane. And then we can, uh, reassemble everything uptower and still do tolerances within a few hundredths of a millimeter.
And, and I think that is, that is really the core of, of what we do that, that we can achieve those workshop tolerances on site, um-
Allen Hall 2025: It’s crazy when I tell people that. I say, “Well, you know, CNC on-site, they can’t… I mean, those, those tolerances can’t be that tight.” And I say, “No, no, no, no. They’re talking about, you know, fractions of a millimeter,” which in, in American terms means fractions of a mil.
Yeah. That’s 1/1000th of an inch. That’s the tolerance you’re doing.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Uh, and that means quality at the end of the day. If you can machine things that tight, that means what you’re getting is gonna be right for that job. Yeah. It’s gonna fix that, fix that problem permanently, which is the goal. Yes. Don’t recreate the problem.
Just fix it once and be done. Now, blade root [00:13:00] inserts, huge issue. CNC on-site has been developing tooling to drill out those existing inserts and, and put in new inserts, and you’re having success with that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s a… it seems like a complicated process, but you have owned that quite well. Talk about what that machinery looks like today, how you’re doing that process, and what have you learned from doing some, uh, field work.
Søren Kellenberger: It’s, uh… we actually, we’ve, we’ve developed two different machines now. Okay. So we, we have, we have one that is, uh, fully CNC controlled, uh, when you need to do a lot of bushings. Yeah. Um, that one takes a bit more, uh, time to set up, but, but, uh, each drilling process is, is really fast. Uh, and then we have developed a semi-automatic machine as well, uh, which is a little bit easier to mount, mounts directly on the blade.
And it’s, uh, really perfect when you only have smaller areas of the, the blade root where you don’t need to replace all bushings- But maybe typically it’s, it’s in the high load [00:14:00] area, which is 15 to 20 bushings maybe. Right. Something like that, right? Yes.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: So, so there we can just mount it directly on the blade and, and then drill from, uh, from there.
Um, and it works really well. We completed, uh, the first large scale, uh, commercial, uh, project, uh, together with our good friends from, uh, We4C. Uh- Right.
Allen Hall 2025: Yes.
Søren Kellenberger: And, uh, and now we are producing, uh, two more drilling machines- Oh … uh, for, for new upcoming, uh, projects also together with, uh, the guys from, from We4C.
Allen Hall 2025: Wow.
Søren Kellenberger: So now it’s, it’s starting to, uh, to pick up. Um, it’s been a relatively long process, and I guess no one really wants to be the first mover on, uh, on new technology, right? Right. So we’ve had a lot of questions. Oh, that… And that looks interesting, but how many, uh, turbines, uh, or how many blades have you repaired?
And it’s been up until now, well, it’s only tested in the lab. Uh, but now we have the first, uh, large scale commercial, uh, project with, uh, 26, uh, turbines, [00:15:00] uh, repaired and, uh, and 1,000 bushings, uh, that were replaced, uh, across those, uh, 26 turbines. So-
Allen Hall 2025: Wow …
Søren Kellenberger: so I guess that is now large scale. Uh-
Allen Hall 2025: That’s large scale.
Yeah. Yeah. I would consider 1,000 a large scale test. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And that brings all those turbines back to life.
Søren Kellenberger: Absolutely. They are up running, uh, full power again, so, uh, that is, uh-
Allen Hall 2025: That’s huge …
Søren Kellenberger: really nice.
Allen Hall 2025: For the operator, I’m sure they love that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. And, and of course, uh, there’s, there’s been a lot of discussions about blades and, uh, bla- the, the waste, uh, issue you have on, on worn- Oh
out blades. Sure. So by being able to fix them instead of replacing them, not only is the, the cost for fixing a blade a lot lower than buying new ones, uh, but, but also from a, an environmental perspective. The not having to scrap them and create that waste is, uh, is also a nice, uh,
Allen Hall 2025: thing. Yeah, it’s one of the things that pops up more recently about replacing blades, and I think the [00:16:00] industry and the operators are pushing back on that.
Uh, because a lot of times the OEM wants to replace a blade, it’s just easier for them to do.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: But the reality is, is that yeah, you’re creating this additional problem. What are you gonna do with the disposal of this blade? Do we really need to do that? Is it so far gone that I can’t recover it? I think a lot of times, especially with fiberglass blades- Yeah
you can bring them back to life.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Just with a little bit of engineering, uh, prowess and some good machinery- Yeah. You can, you can make magic happen, and that’s what CNC OnSite is doing. So that, that’s really amazing that, uh, you’re starting to get more adoption of that on, on the blade root inserts. I know across the United States there’s all kinds of issues, and you’re proving it out.
I think the adoption rate in America and all over is gonna really step up. Now, uh, you always have some cool new project, sort of top secret. What are you working on that the world needs to know about?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. W- I mean, we are constantly, uh, [00:17:00]expanding our, our line of services. Uh, so- Sure … so we are just out there trying to listen to what kind of issues do we see in, in the industry-
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah
Søren Kellenberger: and how can that be fixed, uh, uptower. So, so some of the, the latest, uh, innovations we’ve been doing is a, a new machine on, um… to, to do shaft milling. Uh, so that c- that can be on generator shafts, uh, for instance. There are some machines out there, but we’ve decided to go, uh, against CNC control- Okay
because it gives us a lot of, uh, opportunities both on, on speed, uh, of the process. It’s a more safe, uh, way to, uh, to do it.
Allen Hall 2025: Sure.
Søren Kellenberger: And we can actually also do different, uh, shapes on the shaft, so, so we can do more advanced, uh, repairs. Okay. We, we don’t need to stick to a certain diameter all the way. Now we can, we can mo- make grooves, and we can do, uh- Really?
all sort of sorts of stuff, uh- Oh … along that process because it’s CNC controlled.
Allen Hall 2025: Oh, sure. Okay. Um, and- Boy, okay. That makes a lot of sense. So you can actually take a, a, a basic, [00:18:00] basic, basic design of a shaft and make modifications to it- Yeah … to extend the lifetime and make it work better.
Søren Kellenberger: Yes. So typically we would mill down, uh, the shaft and- Sure
install a sleeve- Sure … to recreate a, a bearing fit, for instance.
Allen Hall 2025: Right. Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: But we have possibilities to, uh, to create, um, grooves or anything that would do a stress relief or whatever you need, lubrication, or if you, if you want to do something, uh, afterwards, we, we can do that with, uh, with our machines.
Uh- Yeah. So yeah, we, we have some new machines for, for hollow shaft, uh, machining, so we can do stuff, uh, inside the main shaft, for instance. We can do stuff on the, the outside, as I mentioned on, on the generator shaft, but that could be on the gearbox as well. So- Sure … sometimes we see issues on the main shaft to, to gearbox, uh, connection.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: We are able to, to fix, uh, those, uh, things uptower. Wow. And, uh, so yeah, lot of new, uh, stuff being, uh, developed.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s, that’s awesome.
Søren Kellenberger: [00:19:00] Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: And I, I know you guys are busy, but- If somebody wants to get ahold of CNC Onsite and get work done this year, they better be making phone calls to you- … quickly. So I, I know your order book is filling up and you’re, you’re having to devote crews and machinery and time.
Yeah. How do people get ahold of you and get on that contact list and can start working the process?
Søren Kellenberger: I would say go into, uh, cnconsite.dk and, uh, there we have all our, our contacts. Uh, so just reach out. There’s a, yeah, formula you can, uh, fill in, uh, or you can find our direct contacts in our webpage, and, uh, then we can start looking at it.
So we are quite busy, but we are always- Yeah … open for, uh, discussions and, uh, yeah. That,
Allen Hall 2025: that’s a problem with being successful, is you’re just always busy running around trying to take care of problems, and that’s the thing, is that everybody I talk to that’s used CNC Onsite loves it-
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah …
Allen Hall 2025: and loves the process and loves the work you do.
So there’s gonna be a lot more phone calls and a lot more orders coming your way, and that’s- Yeah … that’s awesome. [00:20:00] Soren- Yeah … it’s so good to see you again and it’s so good to see you in person. Yeah. And congratulations on the promotion and everything that’s happening at CNC Onsite.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you, Allen. It’s a pleasure.
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