I thought readers would enjoying the mug shot of a Republican lawyer arraigned on charges of election fraud.
All this is reminiscent of the Nazi principle: blame your opponents for the crimes you have committed.
Renewable Energy
States Calculate Onshore Wind Opportunities
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
States Calculate Onshore Wind Opportunities
In September, when some farmers and homeowners in St. Joseph County in north-central Indiana received letters from German-based UKA Group about the company’s interest in developing a new wind farm, it wasn’t necessarily welcome news. A handful of the letter recipients took to social media to state their opposition. But for the western edge of neighboring state Ohio, wind has provided a significant economic boost for small communities.
Sparsely-populated Paulding County Ohio is home to fewer than 19,000 residents, three utility-scale wind farms, and one-and-a-half solar farms.
Each year from 2015-2020, the county saw roughly $2.5 million in “pilot payments,” pre-tax investments the county negotiated to be paid prior to the project’s completion. (More money was to be paid out once all of the turbines came online.) In 2020, Jerry Zielke, then Paulding County’s economic development director, told Ohio reporter Rod Hissong the new wind farm has been “a really really great opportunity for us and our community financially and it really has helped our economy here in Paulding County.”
Local media chronicled the process, explaining how the money generated was spent, invested, and shared in a variety of ways – including $120,000 in annual scholarships for local students.
Wayne Trace schools were an obvious beneficiary. According to the Spectrum article, “Wayne Trace Superintendent Ben Winans said since the school started receiving wind farm money in 2013 they’ve hired 18 new teachers. ” Winans also noted that the GAP closing – getting lower-performing students to achieve at higher levels – “improved from an ‘f’ to an ‘A,’ ” he told SpectrumOne.
Since then, Paulding County’s new economic development director, Tim Copsey, has increased the county’s income by negotiating to bring two solar farms to the area. Timber Road Solar Farm has been supplying local farmers with a “drought resistant form of income” since it came online in 2023.

Image credit: EDP and Timber Road Solar Farm (Ohio map) and Google Maps (Indiana map inset, below)
Will Indiana WElcome a New Wind Farm?

It may be an uphill battle for the UKA wind farm.
St. Joseph County recently enacted an ordinance to deter solar power generation in the county. But, the state already generates 3,368 MW – more than three times what Ohio’s wind farms generate – and another 302 MW are under construction, according to the US DOE and American Clean Power.
And it’s not a new development – according to the Indiana Office of Energy Development, wind energy has been part of the state’s fuel mix since 2006.
In Illinois, Indiana’s neighbor to the west, 7665 MW, or about 12% of the state’s energy, is derived from wind.
Will Indiana continue to do as other states do – including its neighbors, and other farming states like Iowa, and even oil-rich Texas – and sell wind power to fuel income for their state and county budgets? Time will tell, and we’ll be watching as things develop.
You also might be interested in: New Jersey’s Electricity Rate Crisis is a Perfect Storm for Wind Energy
For regular updates on wind and other renewable development projects, technologies, and news, subscribe to the Uptime Tech News newsletter and tune in to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.
https://weatherguardwind.com/states-calculate-onshore-wind-opportunities/
Renewable Energy
Off-Grid Solar Power Simplified – Off-Grid 101
Renewable Energy
Offshore Turbine Toilets, BlackRock’s $38B Acquisition
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Offshore Turbine Toilets, BlackRock’s $38B Acquisition
OEG celebrates 500 offshore turbine toilet installations while BlackRock acquires AES for $38 billion, signaling continued investment despite global wind auction slowdowns and European wind droughts.
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!
Welcome to Uptime News. Flash Industry News Lightning fast. Your host, Allen Hall, shares the renewable industry news you may have missed.
Allen Hall 2025: There’s good news today from the wind energy sector, and it starts of all places with toilets. OEG and Aberdeen Headquartered company just reached a milestone. They’ve installed their 500th in turbine welfare unit across the UK’s offshore wind sector. If you’ve ever worked on an offshore wind turbine, you know why this matters.
These aren’t just convenience facilities. Their dignity and their safety. The other difference between a dangerous transfer to a standby vessel and staying on the job. The units operate in the harshest offshore conditions with no external power or water. Nine offshore wind farms now have these facilities and they’re making offshore work accessible for [00:01:00] women helping retain a more diverse workforce.
And while OEG celebrates 500 installations, something much larger is happening in the American Midwest. Gulf Pacific Power. Just completed a major transaction with NL Green Power North America. Gulf Pacific acquired all of E L’s interest in five operating wind facilities, totaling over 800 megawatts of capacity.
The portfolio includes Prairie Rose in Minnesota, Goodwill and Origin, and Rocky Ridge in Oklahoma, and a facility in North Dakota. Projects with long-term power purchase agreements and high credit counterparties. And then there’s BlackRock. The world’s largest asset manager is placing a $38 billion bet on American clean energy.
They’re close to acquiring power Giant a ES, which have give BlackRock ownership of nearly eight gigawatts of wind power capacity. A [00:02:00] ES leads in sign deals with data center customers with artificial intelligence driving unprecedented electricity demand. That positioning matters.
The weather numbers tell their own story about wind’s challenging year. Most of Europe recorded wind speeds four to 8% below normal in the first half of this year. The wind drought curtailed generation in Germany, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. But the Northeastern United States saw winds seven to 10% above average in parts of Norway, Sweden, and Northern China also benefited.
And in storm, Amy, which is passing through the uk, it drove wholesale electricity prices negative for 17 hours. 20 gigawatts of wind power flooded the grid and the grid paid users to consume electricity. Too much wind, not enough demand. The offshore wind industry faces real headwinds. Global awards fell more than 70% in the first nine months of this year.
Of about 20 gigawatts of expected auctions, [00:03:00] only 2.2 gigawatts have been awarded. Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are preparing new frameworks to restore investor confidence and Japan designated two promising offshore zones, but confidence there is still shaken when Mitsubishi pulled out of its first auction due to some sorry costs.
So here’s what we have. An Aberdeen company celebrating 500 toilet installations that transform working conditions. A Midwestern power company expanding its wind portfolio by 800 megawatts and the world’s largest asset manager, betting $38 billion on American energy infrastructure.
All while offshore auctions stall globally, all while Europe experiences a wind drought and the UK experiences at times too much wind. The sector faces challenges US federal opposition, variable weather, and market slowdowns, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. Data centers. Need power and [00:04:00]someone has to generate those megawatts and companies are still buying wind farms.
Asset managers, are still making billion dollar bets, and engineers are still improving infrastructure. One toilet at a time. When a company celebrates its 500th toilet installation, it’s about commitment to an industry they believe has a future. When investors acquire 800 megawatts of operating capacity, they’re betting on tomorrow.
And when the world’s largest asset manager places a $38 billion bet. They’re looking past the turbulence to see the demand. 500 reasons to believe each one installed in a turbine tower. Each one making life better for workers in harsh conditions.
Each. One. A sign that this industry isn’t going anywhere.
https://weatherguardwind.com/offshore-toilets-blackrock/
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