Published

1 year ago

January 10, 2025

Alice Rush

Andreas Kipker, CEO of Jupiter Bach, discusses their dominance in wind turbine nacelle and spinner cover manufacturing and major U.S. expansion plans, including a new 20,000-square-foot facility in Pensacola and two decades of partnership with GE Vernova.

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Allen Hall: Welcome back to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast Spotlight. I’m your host, Allen Hall, along with my co host, Joel Saxum. And today we have an exceptional guest who brings deep insight from one of the wind industry’s most important manufacturing sectors. Andreas Kipker is the CEO of Jupiter Bach, the world’s largest supplier of nacelle and spinner covers for wind turbines.

Andreas joins us at an exciting time for Jupiter Bach the company just celebrated a remarkable 20 year partnership with GE Vernova and broke ground on a 20, 000 square foot expansion of their Pensacola, Florida facility.

And today under Andreas’s leadership, Jupiter Bach operates state of the art manufacturing facilities across Europe, Asia, and North America. The company’s focus goes beyond just manufacturing. They’re driving innovation in composite materials and. Engineering to help reduce the levelized cost of energy for wind power.

Andreas, welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast Spotlight.

Andreas Kipker: Thank you very much. Pleased to be here. Thanks for the opportunity.

Allen Hall: Well, Jupiter Bach is the world’s largest supplier of nacelles and spinner covers. Could you give us just a sense of what your global footprint looks like?

Andreas Kipker: Absolutely. Happy to do that.

Yeah, so, um, In the global market, we consider ourselves leaders. We have, um, we have factories. We have four main manufacturing facilities one in China two in Europe, then Poland and Lithuania, and then one in Sonia, Florida. Um, and then adding to that’s where we do our composites. And then, and in addition to that, we have we have a number of assembly sites that are.

closer to servicing this Nacelle manufacturing plants assembly plants of our customers. So they’re spread. Somewhat in the same regions, but but closer to customers.

Allen Hall: Well, you just recently celebrated 20 years with G. E. Vernova, which is remarkable. And you’re also expanding a facility down in Florida to another 20, 000 square feet.

What is your footprint right now in Florida alone?

Andreas Kipker: I’m a little bit in doubt, actually, the exact number. We’re around 100, 000 square foot in in, in, in Florida today of, um, of. on the roof. And then it’s a process that takes a bit of outdoors storage at outdoor space as well. So, the site itself is significantly bigger.

You will know this from blade manufacturing plants as well, that the parts are quite big. So it takes a little bit of storage around. But yeah, we’re super excited to have to have longstanding relationship with with several of our customers, but G we just we just reached this milestone.

Um, um, so yeah, proud of that.

Joel Saxum: I think it’s important to to talk about nacelles here, right? Like when you see, when you say when we’re in the wind world, where Alan and I touch most of the time, everybody in the large manufacturing space, you hear about gearbox manufacturers, bearing manufacturers, and then a few tower things here and there, but it’s mostly blades.

Everybody’s worried. You know, what’s TPI here? What’s Iris doing here? What’s, You know, LM doing here or how is that all working? But the part that’s like the most recognizable part on the whole turbine, the nacelle, it’s the box that holds the brains. It’s the thing that gets all of the work done inside of it.

We don’t talk about that much. And I think one of the reasons is there’s usually not very many issues with it, right?

Andreas Kipker: No, I would say we do not see a lot of issues. I think we could in, in all fairness, talk a little bit more about it because There’s a lot of safety features that allows our technicians, not our technicians, but the industry’s technicians to, to carry out their job safely is really important.

Things that we mount on on, on, on the nacelle. So yeah it, it deserves probably a little bit more face time in in a world where we where we expose our technicians to a lot of a lot of risks and we need to keep them safe from that.

Allen Hall: So let’s talk about the nacelle for a minute.

The nacelles are made out of. Basically fiberglass and foam is that how they’re constructed?

Andreas Kipker: Before I joined Jupyterbug, I worked in a company that supplies blade manufacturers. The materials that are being used here are very much the same. It’s slightly different densities of foam because it does less of a structural load than a blade, but yeah, we’re talking about.

Glass fibers, foams, and then the typical resin systems as well. And then surprisingly enough quite a bit of steel parts that are mounted on on that as well.

Allen Hall: So the approach from Jupiter. Box manufacturing, and I’ve seen some things on YouTube, which are quite interesting how you do this.

It is a resident fusion process, very similar to blades, but instead of making a, you know, a shell, you’re making these panels, but then it’s sort of a modular assembly, right?

Andreas Kipker: Different OEMs have different design philosophies, and we work with them on optimizing that. Some are focusing on the ease of the assembly plant, and some are focusing more on The flexibility in, in, in the supply chain.

So we see it going both ways. We do manufacture both parts that that are quite modular, but we do also manufacture a lot of parts that are quite significant in size and do not fit into a container in in, in any way. That that’s also why we have.

Regional setups and some setups that are, need to be closer to the customer so that we can assemble these containerized parts into something that’s easier to install for turbine for the OEM.

Allen Hall: Can we use GE as an example here? You’re manufacturing basic sub assemblies down in Pensacola, Florida, and then they’re moving them up to Schenectady, New York, which is nearby to me, and then you’re assembling them.

near the manufacturing facility that GE has established. Isn’t that the process?

Andreas Kipker: We have this plant down in Florida that makes actually fully fully assembled nacelles. It’s an oversized transport that goes down to the GE factory as well. When we talk about the parts in Schenectady, these are these are from a different design philosophy.

Where we manufacture them offshore. We sent them into Schenectady and then we mount them in Schenectady to to ease the assembly at the GE plant in Schenectady. So, so actually GE has I hope I’m not giving anything away here, but they will they use both design methodologies.

And you will see that if you see the the turbine up close.

Allen Hall: Quite amazing. Okay. So some of your OEMs, even internally to a single OEM asking for like a full completed. Nacelle, other ones want something that’s modular. That’s really fascinating. And on top of that, they’re asking you to install a bunch of a number of safety features and accessories to these nacelles that, there’s, it’s quite complicated now.

It used to be when, years ago, the nacelles tend to be really simple. Now they’ve figured out that they can add on a lot of features to the nacelles, right?

Andreas Kipker: And we see that as some of our value add here in trying to take these parts that can be mounted already in advance. That does not have to go into the assembly line at at the OEM facility.

And we try to take that over, prepare that, make it as easy as possible, mounting as much as we can on the covers. But then also, um, preparing kits. So they are, so they fit right for installation into the assembly line. So yeah, that, that’s an avenue that we have been trying to go.

Going down that road with a higher pace over the past two years. Um, so yeah we, we see the need in certain markets for that, for sure.

Joel Saxum: I like the approach because one of the things that you hear, whether you’re at an offshore conference, an onshore conference, or you’re talking to Anybody in development, it’s all about supply chain, right?

It’s like supply chain, building out local supply chain. How can we optimize the supply chain? Um, you know, like to the point where procurement, good procurement people in supply chain, people in wind are, they’re worth gold, right? But if, so you guys are taking on a bit of that front end work and alleviating the pressures from the OEMs to get it done themselves is what it sounds like.

Andreas Kipker: Absolutely. And, um, you’d say in a growth market that’s making a lot of sense, right? You, yeah, you go to less parts that you need to procure, less logistics that you need to worry about. And we step into that role as a partner.

Joel Saxum: Um, so Jupiter Buck sees that sees that I don’t want to say revenue, but let’s see that opportunity and just grabs, grabs it as well.

It’s a good place to be.

Andreas Kipker: We see it as a way of. servicing our customers much better. So, yes, it gives us more revenue, but it also, and I think more importantly for me, actually gives us an opportunity to move closer to the customer, to become more of a partner, enabling their their higher outputs.

And we see that especially in offshore today. As a need that to meet the growth of the next few years there’s a need for someone to step into that role. And we’re happy where we can take it that that we get that opportunity.

Joel Saxum: So let me ask you a question with staying in that supply chain procurement kind of mode, what drives or what drove the original decision and what drives the staying power to, to be in Pensacola?

Because when you think wind, you don’t think Pensacola, Florida. I guess, unless we’re talking about next era, we don’t talk about Florida that much, but why Pensacola? What’s attractive to that as a manufacturing center?

Andreas Kipker: There’s a very clear logic behind it. There’s a big G E Vanova manufacturing plant in Pensacola.

So, we are like five miles away from from that plant. And that’s the main reason why we we picked that place in the original space It started on a smaller scale and it’s been growing up to to now being um, one of our biggest plants. Um, so yeah, I’m I’m proud of that journey.

And with how we see the wind evolving in US for the next few years, we expect that that to continue. And that’s also why we’re building that out. Yeah. It’s because of proximity to to the market especially to GE that we’re in now.

Allen Hall: How much of the engineering is done by Jupyter box?

So when you’re working with an OEM say it’s Festus or Nord X or whatever you and you do work with those companies You’re pretty much everybody on the planet at the moment how much are they throwing over to you in terms of engineering saying? Here’s the shape, build it. We have

Andreas Kipker: some where we get a fully complete design that we take over.

And we, we just take that from a part design until how are we going to manufacture it. And we do only really process engineering on, on, on that. And there’s other parts where we come in very early in the stage. We do load calculations. We help with. Developing the manufacturing, um, taking design for manufacturing into the design.

So, so we, some places we step in very early, some places we step in very late and If I get an opportunity, we would like to step in early because that, that, that will, in the end we believe that we can save costs in, in, in such a setup. So,

Allen Hall: absolutely. It’s always a smart idea to bring the manufacturer of the component in early because you don’t realize where.

You can actually save on costs and improve the process time. And that’s one thing that JupyterBot has been very aggressive about. There’s been a number of changes I know you’ve implemented internally. You want to talk about some of the concepts and ideas that you’ve been implementing to make the nacelles more efficient and lower costs?

Andreas Kipker: we look at some of the some things we’ve done in the past, it has been focused on how to help standardize and improve performance. In, in an industry creating solutions that that we could work with across across the OEMs. If I look at where we are focusing right now, a lot of our focus is on internally, how do we prepare ourselves for the growth?

How do we prepare ourselves for standardization of processes? Um, so, so, While we’re of course working on some opportunities to help the industry grow outside, we, there’s a, quite a bit of focus on internally growing right now growing our readiness for the future. Yeah, for

Joel Saxum: the next few years.

So with that one being said, a question for you then, is the, where’s the majority of your bandwidth going right now? So is it, are you, we had some great conversations with a few OEMs in the last few weeks, and I know like GE say, we’ve been talking about GE a lot here. GE is shifting towards that. We’re going to make a workhorse and we’re going to, you know, we’re going to not have 300 models we can do.

And we’re going to get down to brass tacks here. So are you guys building a lot of those, like, um, the Cyprus, the 606. 1 nacelles or where’s most of your bandwidth right now? I would say

Andreas Kipker: where we focus right now on ramping up is certainly on supporting the Sierra ramp up in in, in, in US. The Sonsia project naturally takes a lot of attention these these months.

But second to that, we have we’ve had a steep ramp up over the past year in in in Europe, um, that that we will continue to see also coming into next year on, on offshore products. So there’s projects around the world that that are at different stages. Um, but I would say offshore in U.

S. is where we see. The biggest movements right right now.

Joel Saxum: What are, what do you guys do special to the marine bound nacelles? Is there special gaskets? Is there special close outs? So what are they, how are they different than the onshore ones in a general sense? It’s quite similar, right? Where

Andreas Kipker: we see the main difference is just the sheer size of it.

You see these parts that go on the road? Yes. And then you see these parts that are just too big to ever fit fit on the highway. So, I, that, that’s the first real impression you get when you get close to this. You think, wow, that’s a big part. And then you realize it’s only it’s only one back end corner of of the full nacelle that we’re looking at here.

So that’s number one, right? But to, to your point, no, where we see the bigger, the difference on offshore is actually on, um, coating of the steel that go out there. Right. It’s a pretty tough environment that we ship these parts into. So, that’s where the biggest difference is.

Joel Saxum: Always a focus offshore coatings because if you have one little nick in the coating like it’s gonna be a month before that’s Rusting and showing and all kinds of stuff. That’s why I’ve seen RFPs for offshore projects And maybe our listeners have never seen this before but when they do offshore projects There’s an RFP right before, or that goes out to all kinds of people, that right before commissioning, they bring in people just to touch up paint.

And these are people on ropes, and they’re going up and down the towers, everywhere around that thing, because there cannot be any exposed metal. There cannot be any nicks, dents, anything that happened in, you know, transportation or anything like that. So yeah, coatings. Definitely huge offshore. What I want to, what I’m thinking about right now is, um, when GE originally put the hate, they had the first kind of press releases about the Heliad X platform, and they showed that in a cell and it was like rolling out of a factory door and there was a bunch of people standing around it.

And it is literally the size of like a three story home. Like it, it’s massive.

Andreas Kipker: It is very big. Um, no but I would like to come back to Joel you have a good point here in that there’s a lot of repair jobs that are being done to make sure that it fits in the end. Right. That’s on us as an industry to help also design solutions that do not need that extra service and attention.

Now while your business might appreciate that I would say for us. We appreciate if we can take some of these parts and we can convert them into composites instead, because then corrosion doesn’t, it’s not a problem, right? So, so we see some parts where we actually do change it into corrosion to avoid issues.

Joel Saxum: Smart. I like that. I like, I think that’s great as an, as a lifetime O& M cost saver. Convert steel parts into composites if you can, because then you don’t have to deal with rust and that kind of stuff. That’s smart. It

Andreas Kipker: of course depends on what we’re talking about. We’re not going to make a tower out of composites.

Right. But there are a lot of parts that can be converted into composites up tower.

Allen Hall: Well, that’s why it’s important for OEMs to talk to Jupiter Bach early in the process to get those details figured out. It saves yourself a tremendous amount of money and time, and Jupiter Bach clearly has the advantage there.

And let’s talk about the end of life, the recycling efforts that are going on across the world at the minute. I mean, the United States is a big proponent of recycling. You are already thinking about that and have some ideas about The nacelle and the spinner itself, those are composite structures that have a lot of useful life in them.

What’s the future there?

Andreas Kipker: Let’s say today when you design and when our customers design a new turbine, they’re talking about a lifetime of more than 30 years on, on, on average, right? As a useful lifetime. Um, the composites that that we deliver for the vast majority, if not all of it has a lifetime that extends well beyond that with with what it’s the conditions that it’s in.

So, we have looked at different avenues we’re both looking at end of life solutions that, um, where we where we follow some of the solutions that the blade manufacturers has been following, right? We see with a lot of interest into projects like decom blades. Um, there’s other avenues as well.

When we get more com more, more standardized panels back, it’s easier to find a way to use them to, to build new stuff when it comes back. Um, so that was part of our, um, our thoughts into a design concept as well. We do not have the full solution to all of these problems, but we see that the parts that we’re making today certainly certainly has a very long lead time.

Oh, lifetime, sorry. We can find other uses for it at the end of at the end of the current life.

Allen Hall: What is the future for JupyterBock? You seem very busy at the moment and wind is growing faster than ever. What’s what’s going to happen over the next year or two for JupyterBock?

Andreas Kipker: I’m the super happy version of myself here today because right now things are quite positive.

Let’s see how it evolves. But as we see it right now, focus remains on ramping up with the U. S. market, barring any big changes. We expect that to continue for the next for the next two or three years and then find a good stable level after that, um, and then offshore. I know we talked about Offshore being being on a ramp up for already more than a year, but that’s continuing, right?

That’s, um, we’re still at the very early stage of of the volumes that Offshore should be able to deliver. Now here, it’s all dependent on on the markets coming together and making sure that the projects are delivered and not do not end up Um, being canceled again. But if we look at the opportunities, yeah, offshore is where we where we still see a lot of growth potential also going forward.

So, and stepping into this assembly partnerships with with our customers assembly means a lot of different things. I mean, for me, it’s making their Nacelle manufacturing assembly easier by by delivering larger parts of that.

Allen Hall: Well, the next time you’re down in Pensacola, Florida, we need to come down and visit you.

I would love to see your facility, because I think you’re doing remarkable things, and the scale of nacelles and even spinners is remarkable, and it’s hard to even envision some of these things. And Jupiter Bach is poised for big growth. Andreas, it’s been Remarkable having you on the podcast. I’ve learned a ton.

I know we talked a lot off here. I’ve learned a tremendous amount and, you know, and the best of luck to you over the new year. It’s gonna be a fantastic 2025 for you, I think.

Andreas Kipker: I hope it is for us and for the entire industry here. Right. That, that’s what that’s what we all need.

So it’s been it’s been a joy chatting here about, about wind and about the passions that we have. So thank you very much for for this opportunity. And I hope have a great time coming forward as

well.

https://weatherguardwind.com/jupiter-bach-nacelle/

Renewable Energy

Poverty in the United States

Published

21 hours ago

January 20, 2026

Alice Rush

There is no doubt that poverty, ignorance, intolerance, and support of criminal tyrants are deeply interconnected. It’s a shame that nothing can be done to help these people.

Poverty in the United States

Renewable Energy

Choosing the Right Commercial Solar System Size for Business

Published

23 hours ago

January 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Undoubtedly, installing a commercial solar system in 2026 is one of the smartest long-term decisions any Australian business can make.

The underlying reason is pretty straightforward!

With electricity prices rising and sustainability becoming increasingly important, solar offers both financial savings and reputational benefits.

But one of the biggest questions business owners face early on is this:

What size solar system do we actually need?

Go too small, and you won’t see the savings you were hoping for. Go too big, and you risk overcapitalising or exporting excess energy at low feed-in rates.

Therefore, the right answer sits somewhere in the middle, and finding it requires more than just a guess.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the three key steps that determine the right commercial solar system size for your business:

Load analysis
Roof or site assessment
System design considerations

So let’s break down how to help you make a confident decision.

In this blog post:

Step 1: Understanding Your Business Energy Load

This is where it all starts: before panels, inverters, or roof space are even discussed, the most important piece of the puzzle is your energy usage, not just how much you use, but when you use it.

Most businesses start by looking at their electricity bill and focusing on the total kilowatt-hours (kWh) used per month or year.

While that number matters, it’s only part of the story. Look beyond the total kWh because, for solar, the timing of your energy use is critical.

Consider an office, manufacturing facility, medical centre, or retail business that uses most of its electricity between 9 am and 4 pm; it is far more “solar-friendly” than one that uses most of its power overnight, such as cold storage or 24/7 operations.

Daytime vs After-Hours Usage

Before installing solar in your commercial property, ask yourself these:

Are your main operations running during daylight hours?
Do heavy machines, HVAC systems, or production lines operate while the sun is up?
Does usage drop significantly after business hours?

The more energy you use during the day, the more of your business solar power you’ll consume directly, which is where the biggest savings are.

However, in some cases, exporting excess energy back to the grid is beneficial, but feed-in tariffs are usually much lower than what you pay for electricity. For greater financial outcomes, it’s better to install battery storage.

Interval Data: A Standard Method

In Australia, for a proper load analysis, solar professionals typically review interval data, typically 15 or 30 minute usage from your electricity retailer.

This data shows your:

Daily load patterns
Peak demand times
Seasonal variations like summer vs winter

This level of detail allows system sizing to be tailored specifically to your business, rather than depending on rough averages.

Step 2: Roof and Site Assessment – What Can Your Building Actually Handle?

Once energy usage is understood, the next question becomes: where will the system go?

Thinking the same? Here’s your answer!

For most commercial systems, the roof is the obvious choice, but not all roofs are equal in size.

Available Roof Space

Solar panels take up space, and commercial systems can require significant space. The rough estimation says:

100kW system is needed for a roof of 500–600 square metres
200kW system is needed for a roof of 1,000–1,200 square metres

However, usable space is often less than the total roof area. Factors that reduce usable space include:

HVAC units
Skylights
Roof access paths
Setback requirements
Fire safety regulations

Roof Orientation and Tilt

In Australia, north-facing panels generally produce the most energy, but east- and west-facing systems can still perform very well, especially for businesses with high daytime energy requirements.

Also, flat roofs are common on commercial buildings and offer flexibility, as panels can be tilted and oriented at any time using mounting frames.

Structural Integrity

One overlooked factor is whether the roof can physically support the system.

Commercial solar systems add weight, and while it’s usually well within limits, older buildings or lightweight structures may need a structural engineer’s approval.

Therefore, it’s far better to identify this early than be surprised later in the project.

Ground-Mounted and Carport Options

If your roof space is limited, don’t stress out, there are alternative ways, such as:

Ground-mounted solar systems
Solar carports over parking areas

Even these options can increase the system’s potential size but come with higher costs and planning considerations.

Step 3: Matching System Size to Business Needs

A common problem or misconception about solar panels is that bigger is always better. In reality, the best-sized system is one that aligns closely with your energy profile and business goals.

Self-Consumption

Do you know that the highest financial return comes from using solar energy directly on-site?

This is why many commercial systems are designed to offset 60-80% of daytime energy use, rather than 100% of total annual consumption.

Oversizing a system may result in:

Excess exports at low feed-in tariffs
Longer payback periods
Underutilised capital

A perfectly designed system balances generation with actual energy demand.

Future-Proofing

Above all these, it’s also important to think ahead. Therefore, businesses should consider:

Planned expansion
Electric vehicle fleets
New machinery or equipment
Electrification of gas processes

Sometimes installing a slightly larger system, or choosing inverters that support future expansion, makes sense. The goal is to give scalability to your system, not blind oversizing.

Demand Charges and Peak Loads

Many Australian businesses pay demand charges based on their highest usage intervals.

While solar can help reduce daytime demand, it won’t always eliminate peaks, especially if they occur early morning or late afternoon.

In some cases, system design may focus on shaving peaks rather than just maximising total generation.

Which Components Make a Great Commercial Solar System?

A great commercial solar system comes down to a few essential components working together in sync.

Together, these ensure maximum energy output, safety, and return on investment. So, here’s a list:

Solar panels: High-efficiency, durable, long warranties
Inverters: Reliable DC-to-AC conversion and system control
Mounting & racking: Strong, site-specific structural support
Monitoring: Real-time performance tracking and alerts
Safety & protection: Grounding, rapid shutdown, surge and fault protection
Engineering & design: Proper system layout, permitting, and grid compliance

Operations & maintenance: Ongoing inspections to ensure long-term performance

Commercial Solar Batteries: Should They Affect System Size?

In Australia the battery storage is becoming more common, but it’s not always necessary upfront.

For many businesses, only solar panel systems offer the best return on investment. However, batteries tend to make more sense when:

Evening or overnight usage is high
Demand charges are significant
Backup power is critical
Time-of-use tariffs are extreme

Nowadays, most businesses choose to design a battery-ready solar system, allowing storage to be added later as prices in the Australian energy market decline.

Which System is Best for You? The Decision Behind the Panels

Now you might be wondering which solar system best fits your life.

We know every home needs a different solar story. So, beyond the numbers, choosing the right commercial solar system size is about confidence.

Panel Type Options

Monocrystalline solar Panels: These panels have the highest efficiency and are ideal when the roof or land space is limited.
Polycrystalline Solar Panels: They are also a strong choice for Australian businesses seeking a lower upfront cost and are satisfied with slightly reduced efficiency.
Bifacial Solar Panels: They are super-efficient as they generate power from both sides. They are best suited for ground-mounted systems or highly reflective surfaces.

Selecting the right panel type helps ensure your commercial solar system delivers maximum performance and long-term value, so choose wisely.

However, in large-scale commercial properties, business owners often have many concerns. For instance:

Making the wrong investment.
Disrupting operations during commercial solar installation.
Dealing with complex approvals.
Understanding long-term performance.

Keep in mind that a good, accredited solar partner doesn’t just sell you panels; they explain the “why” behind the system size, show realistic projections, and design around how your business actually operates.

Work with Cyanergy| Your Reputable Solar Installer

Well, in the end note, if you are still looking for the right commercial solar system size, honestly, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

Every Australian business is different. Whether a warehouse in Victoria, a winery in Queensland, or a medical centre in New South Wales will all have very different solar needs, even if their electricity bills look similar.

Choosing the right commercial solar system size ultimately comes down to understanding your energy usage, making proper use of roof space, and designing a system that fits your business for the long term.

When those pieces align, solar stops being a guessing game and becomes what it should be.

It’s a smart, reliable investment that works quietly in the background while your business gets on with what it does best.

For more informative content and to schedule a proper energy audit, contact Cyanergy today!

Our solar experts will answer all your questions, making the energy transition process hassle-free and faster.

Your Solution Is Just a Click Away

The post Choosing the Right Commercial Solar System Size for Business appeared first on Cyanergy.

Choosing the Right Commercial Solar System Size for Business

Renewable Energy

UK Awards 8.4 GW Offshore, US Allows Offshore Construction

Published

1 day ago

January 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Weather Guard Lightning Tech

UK Awards 8.4 GW Offshore, US Allows Offshore Construction

Allen, Joel, Rosemary, and Yolanda cover major offshore wind developments on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, Ørsted’s Revolution Wind won a court victory allowing construction to resume after the Trump administration’s suspension. Meanwhile, the UK awarded contracts for 8.4 gigawatts of new offshore capacity in the largest auction in European history, with RWE securing nearly 7 gigawatts. Plus Canada’s Nova Scotia announces ambitious 40 gigawatt offshore wind plans, and the crew discusses the ongoing Denmark-Greenland tensions with the US administration.

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!

The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com. And now your hosts, Alan Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Joel Saxon and Yolanda Padron. Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m Allen Hall, along with Yolanda, Joel and Rosie.

Boy, a lot of action in the US courts. And as you know, for weeks, American offshore wind has been holding its breath and a lot of people’s jobs are at stake right now. The Trump administration suspended, uh, five major projects on December 22nd, and still they’re still citing national security concerns.

Billions of dollars are really in balance here. Construction vessels for most of these. Sites are just doing nothing at the minute, but the courts are stepping in and Sted won a [00:01:00] key victory when the federal judge allowed its revolution wind project off the coast of Rhode Island to resume construction immediately.

So everybody’s excited there and it does sound like Osted is trying to finish that project as fast as they can. And Ecuador and Dominion Energy, which are two of the other bigger projects, are fighting similar battles. Ecuador is supposed to hear in the next couple of days as we’re recording. Uh, but the message is pretty clear from developers.

They have invested too much to walk away, and if they get an opportunity to wrap these projects up quickly. They are going to do it now. Joel, before the show, we were talking about vineyard wind and vineyard. Wind was on hold, and I think it, it may not even be on hold right now, I have to go back and look.

But when they were put on hold, uh, the question was, the turbines that were operating, were they able to continue operating? And the answer initially I thought was no. But it was yes, the, the turbines that were [00:02:00] producing power. We’re allowed to continue to produce powers. What was in the balance were the remaining turbines that were still being installed or, uh, being upgraded.

So there’s, there’s a lot going on right now, but it does seem like, and back to your earlier point, Joel, before we start talking and maybe you can discuss this, we, there is an offshore wind farm called Block Island really closely all these other wind farms, and it’s been there for four or five years at this point.

No one’s said anything about that wind farm.

Speaker: I think it’s been there, to be honest with you, since like 2016 or 17. It’s been there a long time. Is it that old? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So when we were talk, when we’ve been talking through and it gets lost in the shuffle and it shouldn’t, because that’s really the first offshore wind farm in the United States.

We keep talking about all these big, you know, utility scale massive things, but that is a utility scale wind farm as well. There’s fi, correct me if I’m wrong, Yolanda, is it five turbos or six? It’s five. Their decent sized turbines are sitting on jackets. They’re just, uh, they’re, they’re only a couple miles offshore.

They’re not way offshore. But throughout all of these issues that we’ve had, um, with [00:03:00] these injunctions and stopping construction and stopping this and reviewing permits and all these things, block Island has just been spinning, producing power, uh, for the locals there off the coast of Rhode Island. So we.

What were our, the question was is, okay, all these other wind farms that are partially constructed, have they been spinning? Are they producing power? And my mind goes to this, um, as a risk reduction effort. I wonder if, uh, the cable, if the cable lay timelines were what they were. Right. So would you now, I guess as a risk reduction effort, and this seems really silly to have to think about this.

If you have your offshore substation, was the, was the main export cable connected to some of these like revolution wind where they have the injunction right now? Was that export cable connected and were the inter array cables regularly connected to turbines and them coming online? Do, do, do, do, do. Like, it wasn’t like a COD, we turned the switch and we had to wait for all 62 turbines.

Right. So to our [00:04:00] knowledge and, and, uh, please reach out to any of us on LinkedIn or an email or whatever to our knowledge. The turbines that are in production have still have been spinning. It’s the construction activities that have been stopped, but now. Hey, revolution wind is 90% complete and they’re back out and running, uh, on construction activities as of today.

Speaker 2: It was in the last 48 hours. So this, this is a good sign because I think as the other wind farms go through the courts, they’re gonna essentially run through this, this same judge I that. Tends to happen because they have done all the research already. So you, you likely get the same outcome for all the other wind farms, although they have to go through the process.

You can’t do like a class action, at least that’s doesn’t appear to be in play at the minute. Uh, they’re all gonna have to go through this little bit of a process. But what the judge is saying essentially is the concern from the Department of War, and then the Department of Interior is. [00:05:00] Make believe. I, I don’t wanna frame it.

It’s not framed that way, the way it’s written. There’s a lot more legalistic terms about it. But it basically, they’re saying they tried to stop it before they didn’t get the result they wanted. The Trump administration didn’t get the result they wanted. So the Trump administration ramped it up by saying it was something that was classified in, in part of the Department of War.

The judge isn’t buying it. So the, the, the early action. I think what we initially talked about this, everybody, I think the early feeling was they’re trying to stop it, but the fact that they’re trying to stop it just because, and just start pulling permits is not gonna stand outta the court. And when they want to come back and do it again, they’re not likely to win.

If they would. Kept their ammunition dry and just from the beginning said it’s something classified as something defense related that Trump administration probably would’ve had a better shot at this. But now it just seems like everything’s just gonna lead down the pathway where all these projects get finished.

Speaker: Yeah, I think that specific judge probably was listening to the [00:06:00] Uptime podcast last week for his research. Um, listen to, to our opinions that we talked about here, saying that this is kind of all bs. It’s not gonna fly. Uh, but what we’re sitting at here is like Revolution Wind was, had the injunction against it.

Uh, empire Wind had an injunction again, but they were awaiting a similar ruling. So hopefully that’s actually supposed to go down today. That’s Wednesday. Uh, this is, so we’re recording this on Wednesday. Um, and then Dominion is, has, is suing as well, and their, uh, hearing is on Friday. In two, two days from now.

And I would expect, I mean, it’s the same, same judge, same piece of papers, like it’s going to be the same result. Some numbers to throw at this thing. Now, just so the listeners know the impact of this, uh, dominion for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, they say that their pause in construction is costing them $5 million a day, and that is.

That’s a pretty round number. It’s a conservative number to be honest with you. For officer operations, how many vessels and how much stuff is out there? That makes sense. Yep. [00:07:00] 5 million. So $5 million a day. And that’s one of the wind farms. Uh, coastal, Virginia Wind Farm is an $11 billion project. With, uh, it’s like 176 turbines.

I think something to that, like it’s, it’s got enough power, it’s gonna have enough production out there to power up, like, uh, like 650,000 homes when it’s done. So there’s five projects suspended right now. I’m continuing with the numbers. Um, well, five, there’s four now. Revolution’s back running, right? So five and there’s four.

Uh, four still stopped. And of those five is 28. Billion dollars in combined capital at risk, right? So you can understand why some of these companies are worried, right? They’re this is, this is not peanuts. Um, so you saw a little bump in like Ted stock in the markets when this, this, uh, revolution wind, uh, injunction was stopped.

Uh, but. You also see that, uh, Moody’s is a credit [00:08:00] rating. They’ve lowered ORs, Ted’s um, rating from stable to negative, given that political risk.

Speaker 2: Well, if you haven’t been paying attention, wind energy O and m Australia 2026 is happening relatively soon. It’s gonna be February 17th and 18th. It’s gonna be at the Pullman Hotel downtown Melbourne.

And we are all looking forward to it. The, the roster and the agenda is, is nearly assembled at this point. Uh, we have a, a couple of last minute speakers, but uh, I’m looking at the agenda and like, wow, if you work in o and m or even are around wind turbines, this is the place to be in February. From my

Speaker: seat.

It’s pretty, it’s, it’s, it’s shaping up for pretty fun. My phone has just been inundated with text message and WhatsApp of when are you traveling? What are your dates looking forward to, and I wanna say this right, Rosie. Looking forward to Melvin. Did I get it? Did I do it okay.

Speaker 3: You know how to say it.

Speaker: So, so we’re, we’re really looking forward to, we’ve got a bunch of people traveling from around the [00:09:00] world, uh, to come and share their collective knowledge, uh, and learn from the Australians about how they’re doing things, what the, what the risks are, what the problems are, uh, really looking forward to the environment down there, like we had last year was very.

Collaborative, the conversations are flowing. Um, so we’re looking forward to it, uh, in a big way from our seats. Over here,

Speaker 2: we are announcing a lightning workshop, and that workshop will be answering all your lightning questions in regards to your turbines Now. Typically when we do this, it’s about $10,000 per seat, and this will be free as part of WMA 2026.

We’re gonna talk about some of the lightning physics, what’s actually happening in the field versus what the OEMs are saying and what the IEC specification indicates. And the big one is force majeure. A lot of operators are paying for damages that are well within the IEC specification, and we’ll explain.[00:10:00]

What that is all about and what you can do to save yourself literally millions of dollars. But that is only possible if you go to Woma 2020 six.com and register today because we’re running outta seats. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. But this is a great opportunity to get your lightning questions answered.

And Rosemary promised me that we’re gonna talk about Vestus turbines. Siemens turbines. GE Renova turbines. Nordex turbines. So if you have Nordex turbines, Sulan turbines, bring the turbine. Type, we’ll talk about it. We’ll get your questions answered, and the goal is that everybody at at Wilma 2026 is gonna go home and save themselves millions of dollars in 26 and millions of dollars in 27 and all the years after, because this Lightning workshop is going to take care of those really frustrating lightning questions that just don’t get answered.

We’re gonna do it right there. Sign up today.

Speaker 3: [00:11:00] You know what, I’m really looking forward to that session and especially ’cause I’ve got a couple of new staff or new-ish staff at, it’s a great way to get them up to speed on lightning. And I think that actually like the majority of people, even if you are struggling with lightning problems every day, I bet that there is a whole bunch that you could learn about the underlying physics of lightning.

And there’s not so many places to find that in the world. I have looked, um, for my staff training, where is the course that I can send them to, to understand all about lightning? I know when I started atm, I had a, an intro session, one-on-one with the, you know, chief Lightning guy there. That’s not so easy to come by, and this is the opportunity where you can get that and better because it’s information about every, every OEM and a bit of a better understanding about how it works so that you can, you know, one of the things that I find working with Lightning is a lot of force MA mature claims.

And then, um, the OEMs, they try and bamboozle you with this like scientific sounding talk. If you understand better, then you’ll be able to do better in those discussions. [00:12:00] So I would highly recommend attending if you can swing the Monday as well.

Speaker: If you wanna attend now and you’re coming to the events.

Reach out to, you can reach out to me directly because what we want to do now is collect, uh, as much information as possible about the specific turbine types of the, that the people in the room are gonna be responsible for. So we can tailor those messages, um, to help you out directly. So feel free to reach out to me, joel.saxo, SAXU m@wglightning.com and uh, we’ll be squared away and ready to roll on Monday.

I think that’s Monday the 16th.

Speaker 2: So while American offshore wind fights for survival in the courts, British offshore wind just had its biggest day ever. The United Kingdom awarded contracts for 8.4 gigawatts. That’s right. 8.4 gigawatts of new offshore wind capacity, the largest auction in European history.

Holy smokes guys. The price came in at about 91 pounds per megawatt hour, and that’s 2024 pounds. [00:13:00] Uh, and that’s roughly 40% cheaper than building a new. Gas plant Energy Secretary Ed Milliband called it a monumental step towards the country’s 2030 clean power goals and that it is, uh, critics say that prices are still higher than previous auctions, and one that the government faces challenges connecting all this new capacity to the grid, and they do, uh, transmission is a limiting factor here, but in terms of where the UK is headed.

Putting in gigawatts of offshore wind is going to disconnect them from a lot of need on the gas supply and other energy sources. It’s a massive auction round. This was way above what I remember being, uh. Talked about when we were in Scotland just a couple of weeks ago, Joel.

Speaker: Yeah, that’s what I was gonna say.

You know, when we were, when we were up with the, or E Catapult event, and we talked to a lot of the different organizations of their OWGP and um, you know, the course, the or e Catapult folks and, and, and a [00:14:00] few others, they were really excited about AR seven. They were like, oh, we’re, we’re so excited. It’s gonna come down, it’s gonna be great.

I didn’t expect these kind of numbers to come out of this thing. Right? ’cause we know that, um, they’ve got about, uh, the UK currently has about. 16 and a half or so gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, um, with, you know, they got a bunch under construction, it’s like 11 under construction, but their goal is to have 43 gigawatts by 2030.

So,

Speaker 2: man.

Speaker: Yeah. And, and when 2030, put this into Conte Con context now. This is one of our first podcasts of the new year. That’s only four years away. Right. It’s soon. And, and to, to be able to do that. So you’re saying they got 16, they go some round numbers. They got 16 now. Pro producing 11 in the pipe, 11 being constructed.

So get that to 27. That’s another 16 gigawatts of wind. They want, they that are not under construction today that they want to have completed in the next four years. That is a monumental effort now. We know that there’s some grid grid complications and connection [00:15:00] requirements and things that will slow that down, but just thinking about remove the grid idea, just thinking about the amount of effort to get those kind of large capital projects done in that short of timeline.

Kudos to the UK ’cause they’re unlocking a lot of, um, a lot of private investment, a lot of effort to get these things, but they’re literally doing the inverse of what we’re doing in the United States right now.

Speaker 2: There would be about a total of 550, 615 ish megawatt turbines in the water. That does seem doable though.

The big question is who’s gonna be providing those turbines? That’s a. Massive order. Whoever the salesperson is involved in that transaction is gonna be very happy. Well, the interesting thing here

Speaker: too is the global context of assets to be able to deliver this. We just got done talking about the troubles at these wind farms in the United States.

As soon as these. Wind farms are finished. There’s not more of them coming to construction phase shortly, right? So all of these assets, all these jack up vessels, these installation vessels, these specialized cable lay vessels, they [00:16:00]can, they can fuel up and freaking head right across, back across the Atlantic and start working on these things.

If the pre all of the engineering and, and the turbine deliveries are ready to roll the vessels, uh, ’cause that you, that, you know, two years ago that was a problem. We were all. Forecasting. Oh, we have this forecasted problem of a shortage of vessels and assets to be able to do installs. And now with the US kind of, basically, once we’re done with the wind farms, we’re working on offshore, now we’re shutting it down.

It frees those back up, right? So the vessels will be there, be ready to roll. You’ll have people coming off of construction projects that know what’s going on, right? That, that know how to, to work these things. So the, the people, the vessels that will be ready to roll it is just, can we get the cables, the mono piles, the turbines and the cells, the blades, all done in time, uh, to make this happen And, and.

I know I’m rambling now, but after leaving that or e Catapult event and talking to some of the people, um, that are supporting those [00:17:00] funds over there, uh, being injected from the, uh, the government, I think that they’ve got

Speaker 2: the, the money flowing over there to get it done too. The big winner in the auction round was RWE and they.

Almost seven gigawatts. So that was a larger share of the 8.4 gigawatts. RWE obviously has a relationship with Vestus. Is that where this is gonna go? They’re gonna be, uh, installing vestus turbines. And where were those tur turbines? As I was informed by Scottish gentlemen, I won’t name names. Uh, will those turbines be built in the uk?

Speaker 3: It’s a lot. It’s a, it’s one of the biggest challenges with, um, the supply chain for wind energy is that it just is so lumpy. So, you know, you get, um, uh. You get huge eight gigawatts all at once and then you have years of, you know, just not much. Not much, not much going on. I mean, for sure they’re not gonna be just building [00:18:00] eight gigawatts worth of, um, wind turbines in the UK in the next couple of years because they would also have to build the capacity to manufacture that and, and then would wanna be building cocks every couple of years for, you know, the next 10 or 20 years.

So, yeah, of course they’re gonna be manufacturing. At facilities around the world and, and transporting them. But, um, yeah, I just, I don’t know. It’s one of the things that I just. Constantly shake my head about is like, how come, especially when projects are government supported, when plans are government supported, why, why can’t we do a better job of smoothing things out so that you can have, you know, for example, local manufacturing because everyone knows that they’ve got a secure pipeline.

It’s just when the government’s involved, it should be possible.

Speaker 2: At least the UK has been putting forth some. Pretty big numbers to support a local supply chain. When we were over in Scotland, they announced 300 million pounds, and that was just one of several. That’s gonna happen over the next year. There will be a [00:19:00] near a billion pounds be put into the supply chain, which will make a dramatic difference.

But I think you’re right. Also, it’s, they’re gonna ramp up and then they, it’s gonna ramp down. They have to find a way to feed the global marketplace at some point, be because the technology and the people are there. It’s a question of. How do you sustain it for a 20, 30 year period? That’s a different question.

Speaker 3: I do agree that the UK is doing a better job than probably anybody else. Um, it it’s just that they, the way that they have chosen to organize these auctions and the government support and the planning just means that they have that, that this is the perfect conditions to, you know. Make a smooth rollout and you know, take care of all this.

And so I just a bit frustrated that they’re not doing more. But you are right that they’re doing the best probably

Speaker 4: once all of these are in service though, aren’t there quite a bit of aftermarket products that are available in the UK

Speaker: on the service then? I think there’s more.

Speaker 4: Which, I mean, that’s good. A good part of it, right?

Speaker: If we’re talking Vestas, so, so let’s just round this [00:20:00] up too. If we’re talking vest’s production for blades in Europe, you have two facilities in Denmark that build V 2 36 blades. You have one facility in Italy that builds V 2 36 blades, Taiwan, but they build them for the APAC market. Of course. Um, Poland had a, has one on hold right now, V 2 36 as well.

Well, they just bought that factory from LM up in Poland also. That’s, but I think that’s for onshore term, onshore blades. Oh, yes, sure. And then Scotland has, they have the proposed facility in, in Laith. That there, that’s kind of on hold as well. So if that one’s proposed, I’m sure, hey, if we get a big order, they’ll spin that up quick because they’ll get, I am, I would imagine someone o you know, one of the, one of the funds to spool up a little bit of money, boom, boom, boom.

’cause they’re turning into local jobs. Local supply

Speaker 2: chain does this then create the condition where a lot of wind turbines, like when we were in Scotland, a lot of those wind turbines are. Gonna reach 20 years old, maybe a little bit older here over the next five years where they will [00:21:00] need to be repowered upgraded, whatever’s gonna happen there.

If you had internal manufacturing. In country that would, you’d think lower the price to go do that. That will be a big effort just like it is in Spain right now.

Speaker: The trouble there though too, is if you’re using local content in, in the uk, the labor prices are so much

Speaker 2: higher. I’m gonna go back to Rosie’s point about sort of the way energy is sold worldwide.

UK has high energy prices, mostly because they are buying energy from other countries and it’s expensive to get it in country. So yes, they can have higher labor prices and still be lower cost compared to the alternatives. It, it’s not the same equation in the US versus uk. It’s, it’s totally different economics, but.

If they get enough power generation, which I think the UK will, they’re gonna offload that and they’re already doing it now. So you can send power to France, send power up [00:22:00] north. There’s ways to sell that extra power and help pay for the system you built. That would make a a lot of sense. It’s very similar to what the Saudis have done for.

Dang near 80 years, which is fill tankers full of oil and sell it. This is a little bit different that we’re just sending electrons through the water to adjacent European countries. It does seem like a plan. I hope they’re sending ’em through a cable in the water and not just into the water. Well, here’s the thing that was concerning early on.

They’re gonna turn it into hydrogen and put it on a ship and send it over to France. Like that didn’t make any sense at all. Uh. Cable’s on the way to do it. Right.

Speaker: And actually, Alan, you and I did have a conversation with someone not too long ago about that triage market and how the project where they put that, that that trans, that HVDC cable next to the tunnel it, and it made and it like paid for itself in a year or something.

Was that like, that they didn’t wanna really tell us like, yeah, it paid for itself in a year. Like it was a, the ROI was like on a, like a $500 million [00:23:00]project or something. That’s crazy. Um, but yeah, that’s the same. That’s, that is, I would say part of the big push in the uk there is, uh, then they can triage that power and send it, send it back across.

Um, like I think Nord Link is the, the cable between Peterhead and Norway, right? So you have, you have a triage market going across to the Scandinavian countries. You have the triage market going to mainland eu. Um, and in when they have big time wind, they’re gonna be able to do it. So when you have an RWE.

Looking at seven gigawatts of, uh, possibility that they just, uh, just procured. Game on. I love it. I think it’s gonna be cool. I’m, I’m happy to see it blow

Speaker 2: up. Canada is getting serious about offshore wind and international developers are paying attention. Q Energy, France and its South Korean partner. Hawa Ocean have submitted applications to develop wind projects off Nova Scotia’s Coast.

The province has big ambitions. Premier, Tim Houston wants to license enough. Offshore [00:24:00] wind to produce 40 gigawatts of power far more than Nova Scotia would ever need. Uh, the extra electricity could supply more than a quarter of Canada’s total demand. If all goes according to plan, the first turbines could be spinning by 2035.

Now, Joel. Yeah, some of this power will go to Canada, but there’s a huge market in the United States also for this power and the capacity factor up in Nova Scotia offshore is really good. Yeah. It’s uh, it

Speaker: is simply, it’s stellar, right? Uh, that whole No, Nova Scotia, new Brunswick, Newfoundland, that whole e even Maritimes of Canada.

The wind, the wind never stops blowing, right? Like I, I go up there every once in a while ’cause my wife is from up there and, uh, it’s miserable sometimes even in the middle of summer. Um, so the, the wind resource is fantastic. The, it, it is a boom or will be a boom for the Canadian market, right? There’re always [00:25:00] that maritime community, they’re always looking for, for, uh, new jobs.

New jobs, new jobs. And this is gonna bring them to them. Um, one thing I wanna flag here is when I know this, when this announcement came out. And I reached out to Tim Houston’s office to try to get him on the podcast, and I haven’t gotten a response yet. Nova Scotia. So if someone that’s listening can get ahold of Tim Houston, we’d love to talk to him about the plans for Nova Scotia.

Um, but, but we see that just like we see over overseas, the triage market of we’re making power, we can sell it. You know, we balance out the prices, we can sell it to other places. From our seats here we’ve been talking about. The electricity demand on the east coast of the United States for, for years and how it is just climbing, climbing, climbing, especially AI data centers.

Virginia is a hub of this, right? They need power and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, foot for offshore wind, plus also canceling pipelines and like there’s no extra generation going on there except for some solar plants where you can squeeze ’em in down in the Carolinas and whatnot. [00:26:00] There is a massive play here for the Canadians to be able to HVD see some power down to us.

Speaker 2: The offshore conditions off the coast of Nova Scotia are pretty rough, and the capacity factor being so high makes me think of some of the Brazilian wind farms where the capacity factor is over 50%. It’s amazing down there, but one of the outcomes of that has been early turbine problems. And I’m wondering if the Nova Scotia market is going to demand a different kind of turbine that is specifically built for those conditions.

It’s cold, really cold. It’s really windy. There’s a lot of moisture in the air, right? So the salt is gonna be bad. Uh, and then the sea life too, right? There’s a lot of, uh, sea life off the coast of the Nova Scotia, which everybody’s gonna be concerned about. Obviously, as this gets rolling. How do we think about this?

And who’s gonna be the manufacturer of turbines for Canada? Is it gonna be Nordics? Well,

Speaker: let’s start from the ground up there. So from the or ground up, it’s, how about sea [00:27:00] floor up? Let’s start from there. There is a lot of really, really, if you’ve ever worked in the offshore world, the o offshore, maritime Canadian universities that focus on the, on offshore construction, they produce some of the best engineers for those markets, right?

So if you go down to Houston, Texas where there’s offshore oil and gas companies and engineering companies everywhere, you run into Canadians from the Maritimes all over the place ’cause they’re really good at what they do. Um, they are developing or they have developed offshore oil and gas platforms.

Off of the coast of Newfoundland and up, up in that area. And there’s some crazy stuff you have to compete with, right? So you have icebergs up there. There’s no icebergs in the North Atlantic that like, you know, horn seats, internet cruising through horn C3 with icebergs. So they’ve, they’ve engineered and created foundations and things that can deal with that, those situations up there.

But you also have to remember that you’re in the Canadian Shield, which is, um, the Canadian Shield is a geotechnical formation, right? So it’s very rocky. Um, and it’s not [00:28:00] like, uh, the other places where we’re putting fixed bottom wind in where you just pound the piles into the sand. That’s not how it’s going to go, uh, up in Canada there.

So there’s some different engineering that’s going to have to take place for the foundations, but like you said, Alan Turbine specific. It blows up there. Right. And we have seen onshore, even in the United States, when you get to areas that have high capacity burning out main bearings, burning out generators prematurely because the capacity factor is so high and those turbines are just churning.

Um, I, I don’t know if any of the offshore wind turbine manufacturers are adjusting any designs specifically for any markets. I, I just don’t know that. Um, but they may run into some. Some tough stuff up there, right? You might run into some, some overspeeding main bearings and some maintenance issues, specifically in the wintertime ’cause it is nasty up there.

Speaker 2: Well, if you have 40 gigawatts of capacity, you have several thousand turbines, you wanna make sure really [00:29:00] sure that the blade design is right, that the gearbox is right if you have a gearbox, and that everything is essentially over-designed, heated. You can have deicing systems on it, I would assume that would be something you would be thinking about.

You do the same thing for the monopoles. The whole assembly’s gotta be, have a, just a different thought process than a turbine. You would stick off the coast of Germany. Still rough conditions at times, but not like Nova Scotia.

Speaker: One, one other thing there to think about too that we haven’t dealt with, um.

In such extreme levels is the, the off the coast of No. Nova Scotia is the Bay of Fundee. If you know anything about the Bay of Fundee, it is the highest tide swings in the world. So the tide swings at certain times of the year, can be upwards of 10 meters in a 12 hour period in this area of, of the ocean.

And that comes with it. Different time, different types of, um, one of the difficult things for tide swings is it creates subsid currents. [00:30:00] Subsid currents are, are really, really, really bad, nasty. Against rocks and for any kind of cable lay activities and longevity of cable lay scour protection around turbines and stuff like that.

So that’s another thing that subsea that we really haven’t spoke about.

Speaker 3: You know, I knew when you say Bay Bay of funding, I’m like, I know that I have heard that place before and it’s when I was researching for. Tidal power videos for Tidal Stream. It’s like the best place to, to generate electricity from.

Yeah, from Tidal Stream. So I guess if you are gonna be whacking wind turbines in there anyway, maybe you can share some infrastructure and Yeah. Eca a little bit, a little bit more from your, your project.

Speaker 2: that wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas. We’d love to hear from you. Just reach out to us on LinkedIn and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

And if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show For Rosie, Yolanda and Joel, I’m Alan Hall, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime [00:36:00] Wind Energy Podcast.