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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

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Do Social Democracies Commit Genocide on Their People?

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Re: the meme here that a reader sent me, I’m not sure this is fair.

What social democrats are proposing exactly what most of the governments of Western Europe, and many other countries around the globe offer their citizens.

I don’t read too much about genocide in Denmark.  Are they killing each other with pastries?

Do Social Democracies Commit Genocide on Their People?

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German Wind Turbine? Let’s Do Some Math

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The turbine presented here has blades that are 0.5 meters in length, and that the average home requires 1.2 KW.

When we plug this into this wind power calculator, we learn that we’ll need an average wind speed of 37 mph.

Since the average wind speed in Germany is 11 mph and power is proportionate to the cube of the wind speed, the average German will need 38 of these to power his house.

German Wind Turbine? Let’s Do Some Math

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What Operators Want to Hear at WOMA 2027

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Weather Guard Lightning Tech

What Operators Want to Hear at WOMA 2027

Two days of operator meetings in Melbourne shape the WOMA 2027 agenda, from performance upgrades and cable faults to foundations and bolts.

The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall. I’m here with Matthew Stead and Rosemary Barnes. And Rosemary, where are we?

Rosemary Barnes: We’re in Melbourne, and we have been visiting future attendees and sponsors and people interested in, in the event to see what topics that we should be talking about.

What are the hot topics of the moment?

Allen Hall: Which is a very interesting two days, Matthew, in that, uh, we h- did meet with a number of operators based in Australia, but, uh, they’re also very worldly. They have talked to companies all over about operations and, and maintenance, and there are some really eye-opening topics- Mm

that will be- Mm … at WOMA 2027 this year.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. The thing that was interesting for me was [00:01:00]that actually the topics have changed each year. So, um, they’re evolving and the industry’s continuing to, to do better, and so that, that was really interesting. Performance upgrades was probably one of the big areas of, of new interest, I think.

I think we heard with the pressure on pricing, uh, the market and so forth, you know, that, that 1% or 2% now is becoming more important. Um, so I think, uh, upgrades will definitely feature quite a lot. Um, balance of plant was also a big topic. Um, you just can’t ig- ignore the, um, transmission, you can’t ignore the transformers, you can’t ignore, uh, condensers and all these sorts of things, so yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Cables.

Matthew Stead: Cables.

Rosemary Barnes: Terminations. Terminations of cables. Specifically raised several times.

Allen Hall: Yep. Yeah. It’s all about being more efficient, uh, getting more production, and then with the PPA prices, uh, that are changing-

Matthew Stead: Mm …

Allen Hall: rapidly, uh, everybody is paying more attention to the bottom line.

Matthew Stead: Mm, mm.

Allen Hall: Absolutely. There, there’s less cash running around, uh, chasing new development.

It’s [00:02:00] more of a focus on making sure your, at least your existing assets are performing as, as well as they can be- Mm … which then opens up the, uh, Pandora’s box of opportunity. Mm. Because there are 1%’s all around a wind turbine. More specifically, uh, all the drive train issues, the blade issues, the generator issues, and even going into the substation.

Mm. I, I was really shocked on BOP e- the, the one topic that came up, uh, yesterday and today was buried cables. Mm. Like-

Matthew Stead: Faults …

Allen Hall: faults.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Junctions. Finding- Yeah … finding faults and what to do about them. Yeah. Yeah. But I think in addition to just wanting more revenue, I think people have, are getting more sophisticated about what actually matters and then the finances.

You know, everyone’s focused so much on availability, and now people- Mm … are like, okay, yeah, like once you’re at a certain level of availability, gets harder and harder to get more. And actually, you know, not all availability is equal. Is good. It, it [00:03:00] depends. Yeah. Yeah, like you wanna, um, you wanna focus on how much you’re generating at the times when electricity prices are high specifically, which usually means during lower wind speed periods.

Yeah. Which is actually good because that matches really well with what is actually possible. It’s, it’s hard to get more power out of the turbine if it’s at, you know, its rated power, then you’re not g- More efficiency is not gonna get you any more, um, power output, whereas lower in the power curve- Mm … um, when wind speeds are lower, there’s less electricity in the grid and so prices are higher.

And so- Mm … yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s why people are really asking to know more about what efficiency upgrades are possible, better ways to operate, scheduled maintenance, um, all those sorts of things. Mm. So that will be really interesting.

Matthew Stead: Raising the bar on sophistication. Um, but also life extension

Allen Hall: Yes, a lot of discussion about life extension

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, end of life and life extension End of life Yeah, um-

Matthew Stead: Foundations, structures Which is

Allen Hall: tied to PPA.

Mm. A lot of that [00:04:00] discussion I, at least I looked at it as, uh, if I had a PPA and I can continue with that PPA with an existing turbine, I want to do that. Mm,

Matthew Stead: mm,

Allen Hall: mm. But how do I do that and how do I know that that existing turbine can last another five years? It seemed to go in five-year blocks, like can we get to another five years and then another and then, then another.

Wow.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Once you get to 20, 20, 25 years, I think people like, uh, they, you know- It’s getting a little- Their original agreement might have been for 20, then they kind of just assume that there will be another five, and then after that they’re- Yeah … kind of reassessing cyclically and yeah, I know that people make plans for, you know, what components are replaceable, what would they have to get in, and I think that sometimes, uh, people doing those plans aren’t as familiar with the, you know, actual technical issues that are being faced.

Like, is a blade a replaceable component? It may be early on in the life it sort of is, not easily, but you know, like a 25-year-old wind turbine, you know, good luck trying to order 10 new blades because you’ve got a, you know, an issue that’s-

Allen Hall: Oh, well you, you need to read the news. Did you [00:05:00] see the news today about, uh, the, the wooden wind turbine blades as a replacement for aged blades?

That, that’s happening- … in real time, Rosa.

Rosemary Barnes: Okay. I know they- Yeah. Yep, yep. Okay. Okay. So that, that’s, that’s good. Making carbon new blade. E- even so, I don’t think that they’re- Okay. … gonna be, like, super-duper cheap, so you’re still gonna wanna be, um, doing a trade-off between y- you know, like, what kind of repairs.

You might be able to change the way you’re operating to reduce loads. Um, you might be able to monitor to make sure that your blades are safe. You know, if you know that there’s an issue, um, you just wanna get some advanced warning before blades start falling off your, your tower. Mm. You know, and then you can push it further.

Yeah. Whereas if you’ve got no information, then you have to be conservative and shut it down. Yeah. So yeah, I think there’s a whole lot that can be g- can be done there in that area.

Matthew Stead: There was a point that came up today, which I think was close to your heart, on, you know, if you’re going to be going for 1% or 2% or 0.5% AEP improvement, how do you actually measure that and how do you set up a proper experiment?

So-

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah …

Matthew Stead: I, I, I love that topic. [00:06:00]

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. No, it’s one that I, um, yeah, I deal with m- my clients I, I’m often… It’s one of the things that Pablo really loves to do, is to organize trials of that nature of new technologies and see if they work. But, um, yeah, asset managers are usually very, uh, focused on fast results.

You know, they’ve got a, a big problem and they want a solution now, so they wanna just roll out the new technology over an entire wind farm. But if you do that, then it’s almost impossible. Unless you get, like, a huge benefit, like, uh, 10% gains or, you know, like reduce your failures by 50% or more, it’s really hard to actually- Mm

pick that out if you just replace everything. Mm. Whereas if you do a really, really good, um, trial plan- Systematic. Yeah … and you match pairs very well so that you have, you know, a control for each turbine and there’s- so many variables in a wind farm. It’s not, it’s not as easy as just, like, randomly choosing 50% to do and not do.

Mm. Mm. Mm. Like, you have to, you know, put some work into the trial design, and then, you know, like, do your statistical calculations ahead of time to know how long it’s gonna take you to get s- statistical [00:07:00]significance. So then you don’t just have a gut feeling about- Yep … how something went. You’ve actually got numbers, and then you can take those numbers to, you know, other wind farms that you’ve got- Yeah

and, and know what’s going on much better.

Matthew Stead: Worst study is an inconclusive study.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Definitely.

Allen Hall: Well, that comes back to the data analysis- Mm … which a lot of operators mentioned, and how much data there is and what to do with it, and it did seem like a couple of operators have chosen some AI tools, varying degrees, all the way down from Microsoft Copilot to something much more complicated.

Uh, but I think there’s, uh, getting that d- to the last 1, 2, 3%, you’re going to need those tools- Absolutely … because what do you choose? Do you choose a blade? Do you choose a gearbox? Do you choose a generator? Do you go to the substation to get that percentage point or two Without having some really powerful tools- Mm.

you may be wasting your time [00:08:00] and money.

Matthew Stead: Mm.

Allen Hall: Which is a, a, a very interesting, uh, aspect to wind energy because it’s such an industrial business that, uh, we haven’t used heavy computational tools, uh, un- until really now.

Matthew Stead: Mm.

Allen Hall: And maybe Australia’s at the forefront because of the PPA and negative pricing is that that will, uh, actually lead an industry.

Because I haven’t seen a lot of that being used globally. Mm. So this is the first time an operator- Mm … that I’ve talked to has said, “We’re using it.”

Matthew Stead: Yeah. It’s quite a different discussion, um, I think, you know, this year compared to previous years in that I think in the past it was getting to know what’s possible, but now it’s like real case studies are coming through.

And a few of the people had some really good examples that we can talk about at the conference as to how they’ve actually been helped and how they did this and what the outcome was. I think, yeah, that would be really great content on that.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I think it’s gonna be a good mix of people who have used third party tools and have experience with it, people that are doing it in-house and can share- Mm

some of the kinds of results- Mm … that, that you can get just from analyzing your own- Mm … [00:09:00] SCADA data. Um, people talking about how they get the data that they want. Mm. ‘Cause it’s not always so easy. You would think that, you know, you own a wind turbine, you have a right to have all of the data that comes through it, but it’s not.

Um, even if you do technically have a right, it’s, uh, it, it’s harder to actually get it than you might think. Mm. So yeah, sharing all, all those kinds of things. But I think also, like just as important as talking about the successes is talking about the, the gaps that– people still feel lots of gaps. Like, okay, we’ve got all the data, we’re collecting it.

We know that there’s so much potential here- Mm … but we don’t really- Mm … know what we can do, or it’s hard for us to, you know- Mm … make headway in this particular pain point. And that is really useful for companies that are developing tools to know what are the, the problems. Mm. Because then they can e- you know, they’re well placed to fix them.

Allen Hall: Mm. Which leads to the discussion we had with the operators and, uh, some of the suppliers for WOMA 2027. There’s a lot of interest. And as we’re sitting in the conference rooms, I’m thinking, we may not have enough room to [00:10:00] seat everybody. Uh, the WOMA 2027 website is up and running, and you can register now.

So just go to woma2027.com and get started there. At the same point, we’ve had a lot of contact with, uh, pretty much everybody that wants to sponsor the event, and there’s only a limited number of ways to sponsor. So if you’re interested in doing that, you, you need to go to woma2027.com and look at those, uh, part- particular packages and see what- Mm

fits your, your business. Uh- Going back to some of the, the comments we were just discussing downstairs about what we heard at 2026, like, which is only a couple of months ago, right? It’s back in February this year. Uh, there’s, they’re still discussing what happened at WOMA 2026- Mm. Which was very fascinating- Mm

because I think Rosemary, you and I have been to conferences that I have not thought an iota … about what happened at those conferences. Just nothing interesting does occur. There’s no new, new information, there’s [00:11:00] no new science, there’s no new operator approaches.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Allen Hall: But we’re gonna see a number of those- Yeah.

Mm … come next March.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Well, I think it’s partly because I don’t know what other conference organizers do, but, you know, we’ve had a exhausting few days here. You’ve come all the way from America, obviously, and, and Claire as well, also come over, our producer. Um, so, y- you know, like, we’re working really hard to make sure that the topics…

Like, it’s not an accident that the topics are ones that people are talking about later, because we come here to make sure that we get the right topics. And it’s not just these meetings as well. People get in touch, and- Mm … anybody watching, listening, who has, you know, something that they wanna talk about, then definitely, you know, send us a message, and yeah, we’re working on the agenda.

We’ll, we’ll have a draft agenda in the next couple of weeks based on what we’ve learned here, but then we’ve got the hard job of it’s not just that you have a really interesting topic, you need to have a really great speaker- Yeah … or several really great speakers, usually covering several different aspects of the problem.

You know, maybe it’s, uh, yeah, an asset [00:12:00] owner, an OEM, and some, some technology provider, you know, all together giving different, um, yeah, perspectives. That’s, I think, what makes a really great session. Mm. So yeah, we need the ideas for the sessions, and we also need the ideas for great speakers.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Right.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. I think we’ve, we’ve already matched a few of those dots, so- Yeah … I, we’ve heard people asking for certain topics they wanna hear about, and then we’ve heard other operators saying, “Well, this is what we could talk about.” So I think we’ve already-

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, yeah … got some great

Matthew Stead: progress.

Rosemary Barnes: It was, it was interesting ’cause we, we built up a list of, you know-

Matthew Stead: Yeah

Rosemary Barnes: frequently raised topics, and then you’d say it to the next person that you went to- Mm … and they’re like, “Oh, that’s not a problem for us because we’ve done X, Y, Z.” And you’re like, “Okay. Well, excellent. You can, you can present the solutions that we know that other people- Yeah. Yes … are, are looking for.” Yeah.

So it has been… Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s definitely worthwhile coming, as, as tiring as it is. Yeah. Um, definitely worthwhile, and we’ll get a much better agenda for the- Yeah … for the effort.

Matthew Stead: And I think, I mean, it has been tiring. Um, but what, what made it for me was one of the operators said that [00:13:00] this is the only conference they will go to So I think, I think we’re doing the right thing.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think so. I understand too, like, you know, all of us, we kind of are forced to go to events because that’s where our, our clients and customers are, and so you need to see them. And yeah, like I’ve even gone to the extent of some events where I don’t particularly like the event, but I know everyone’s going.

Mm. I just go and sit near the event for a couple of days and meet people at a cafe. So yeah, like we can’t get away from it. But if you’re an asset manager or, um, yeah, somebody in that kind of type of work, like you’ve got better things to do than listen to sales pitches aggressively thrown at you that aren’t relevant- Yeah

to what you’re doing. So, um, yeah. Like I, I definitely love to hear that kind of feedback- Yeah … and wanna make sure that we get it every, every year. Like that’s- It’s, it’s

Matthew Stead: encouraging.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah … yeah, that’s, that’s the point of the conference, so.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.

Matthew Stead: The other big topic was we would really love more OEM involvement.

Um-

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Everybody wants more- … a lot of the operators- … OEM involvement- Yeah … all of the asset owners.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Like we want to [00:14:00] hear from OEMs more, have them there. Um, so yeah, we’re, we’ll be trying to To get those sorted

Allen Hall: Well, WOMA is a global conference, although it’s Australia-based and there’s a, a number of Australian operators.

There are Danish, Americans, uh, plenty of Europeans. Uh, we’re gonna see some from Southeast Asia, I think, this year. Mm-hmm. And, and Japan hopefully will come. Uh, because it’s a, it’s a global conference, there’s global knowledge- Mm … and wind is such a big industry. You may not have the solution in the United States, it may be sitting in Australia, and we need to exchange those ideas.

Mm. And that, that’s the point. So w- we are continuing to look for those world experts as we have received all the inputs of these are all the topics we wanna go hear about. Great. Now it’s on us three to go find some of those world experts and, and try to get them to Melbourne. Yeah. And I, I think that’s a great opportunity.

So if we do call you and ask you to participate in WOMA [00:15:00] 2027, please take it seriously because- Mm … you will be bombarded with great questions- Mm … and contacts and information. Uh, it’s an event you won’t wanna miss. Yeah. And- But I would- … there’s opportunity there.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I’d say we’re, we’re prioritizing OEMs, um, to, to get more participation, ideally to speak, but at least to be there.

And we have heard from multiple asset owners in Australia that they want, they, they want to know what are some of the upgrades that they can do- Yeah … that you’re offering. They wanna know what’s coming next in terms of technology. They wanna know what are some of the non-Western options. So, you know, like it would be great to get some Chinese wind turbine, um, manufacturers as well.

Like, they want all this information. They don’t want a slick sales brochure pitch that doesn’t give them any technical information. So we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get, you know, some technical people to speak on, yeah, what are the upgrades you offer and how does it work- Mm-hmm … and show us a case study that demonstrates the improvements.

Um, ’cause that [00:16:00] sometimes is really hard to get out of- Mm … out of OEMs. You know, that, “We’ve got this thing, it’s so amazing, you should get it.” Okay, well, what’s the business case for it? “Oh, well, we don’t have any numbers. Just trust us.”

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Um, it’s so common to get a pitch like that. So yeah, any, any OEM that has any- anything like that, either for the next generation of wind turbines or for upgrading the current fleet, yeah, if you’re willing to bring the data, then people, they are desperate to hear this information.

Allen Hall: Mm.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. That came up so many times.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Allen Hall: So what were the other, uh, topics that we’re… I’m just not thinking off the top of my head. I know foundations came up quite a bit- Foundations, yeah … which was an odd one, I think, because we haven’t seen that a lot in Australia. Yeah. But this year, foundations, foundations, foundations.

Basically, the health of foundations. Yeah.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. I think really there was a lifting of the maturity. Um, I think the topics were sort of showing that, you know, Maslow’s hierarchy and moving into the more of optimization rather than making do, and I think life extension around the foundations was a, a really good example of that.

Allen Hall: And bolts.

Matthew Stead: Bolts? Yeah, bolts.

Allen Hall: [00:17:00] Everybody said bolts. Bolts.

Matthew Stead: Bolts.

Allen Hall: You think the world’s simplest device, we’ve been making bolts for nearly 1,000 years or at least a couple hundred. But it does- And, you know- … come up quite often … cable, cable

Matthew Stead: terminations, again, some really

Rosemary Barnes: basic- Yeah, that, really specific ones that were raised multiple times.

Yeah. Um, yeah, which, which is great- Yeah … ’cause it gives us a good direction to go. But I do love how it changes so much every year- Yeah … ’cause it makes me feel like, okay, yeah, like we’re actually, you know, it’s worthwhile, um, putting on another event. Mm. Um, not just recording one event and then just, you know, like replaying that every year or something.

Re-educating.

Allen Hall: Yeah. Well, I, I think there’s a learning exercise that has happened over the past two years where people now are knowledgeable about those things we talked about- Mm … two years ago. Uh, was it, was it even two years ago? It was a year and a half ago when we first started this, so we’re, we’re not that deep into it.

Although our third conference will be next March, uh, you just see more energy, more industry knowledge in some of the references that I heard, uh, in terms of other companies and the approaches they’re taking clearly came from WOMA.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Matthew Stead: Yeah,

Allen Hall: yeah. Which is, which is [00:18:00] fascinating. Yeah. That’s

Rosemary Barnes: good. I mean, we want- It, it is

Allen Hall: sticking

Rosemary Barnes: we want tech conferences to get better, right? That was the- No … the reason why we, uh, we started this conference was ’cause we didn’t think that it was sufficient, what we had available. So, you know, it’s not a bad thing if other conferences, um, get better. Yeah. Yeah. We should also mention that blades were, were raised a fair bit.

We talked so much about blades in the previous years, and we will be talking about blades a lot again, including we’ve got a master class on the Friday. Uh, it’s… Yeah, we’ll go back to some of the basics about how the composite materials work and how a blade is designed and certified and manufactured, and, um- Lightning.

Y- yeah, yeah, a little, a little bit about lightning. Um, I don’t wanna cover it too much because we did the master class on lightning- Right … last year. Mm. Um, yeah. And yeah, some of the common damage methods anyway. And of course- Mm … yeah, lightning is probably the most- … common, or I guess leading edge erosion is the most, and then lightning would be the most expensive.

Um, yeah, so we’ll be, we’ll be covering all that and just try and raise the knowledge level a little bit, um, for [00:19:00] everybody to… It’s a very complicated kind of, uh, yeah, component.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.

Matthew Stead: And workshops. So each year we’ve run sort of workshops or roundtables or whatever, so we’re still thinking about the format for them, but, um, thinking about how we’ll reintroduce them again this year.

You know, specific topics, specific questions, specific answers.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Allen Hall: And the three of us will be in Hamburg in a couple of weeks at Wind Energy Hamburg, so if you see us and you’re interested in coming to Australia, that’s the place to grab us and- Yep … and shake us and say, “I wanna go to Australia. How do I do it?”

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Allen Hall: Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Especially if you’ve got a, a t- technology that addresses some of those specific issues that we’ve mentioned- Mm … then, um, yeah, just know ahead of time that Australia needs, needs more information and more, um, solutions available to them. So, yeah. And

Matthew Stead: that reminds me, we had a really discussion a- around safety and, you know, reasonable and [00:20:00] practicable, and discussion around all the lessons learned about how…

or what is best practice on a site, what is best practice about how to manage risks and-

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. Yeah. I know you, you, you enjoyed that one.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And we’re not talking about, like, safety the- Ear muffs or hats. The, um, rou- Yeah, the routine safety that if you- The goggles, yeah … yeah, trip over and graze your knee, then you need to let the site supervisor know.

You, you know, it’s not that stuff, ’cause sites have that under control. That’s a given, yeah. Or at least the ability to get that under control. We’re talking about the bigger- Yeah … bigger things, you know. Like, uh, is there a issue that is causing blades to fall off turbines every now and then? Is there an issue that, uh, can lead to, you know, a fire?

I, I think everyone, like- Yeah … a big fear of everybody’s. There’s never been, um, in Australia at least, there’s never been a wind turbine fire that has caused a bush fire, but it is a possibility, and it would be so bad for the industry. So, you know, it’s those things- Mm … that could be just terrible, preventing those before they happen.

Mm. So that’s the kind of safety that we’re gonna mainly focus on. Mm. Although, you know, we’re not gonna [00:21:00] turn down questions on, um, some of the smaller stuff as well.

Matthew Stead: Yeah.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Matthew Stead: And we even thought about getting some lawyers-

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah …

Matthew Stead: you missed out on this discussion, Rosie. Okay.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.

Matthew Stead: So

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Lawyers, this is news to me.

Well, I mean, are we talking contracts or, um-

Matthew Stead: No, no … no … it’s really operations. I mean- Right … the environmental, um, issues- Oh yeah … the operational issues. Mm. You know, there’s, there’s a few things in there that the lawyers can add.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I mean- … I’ve, I constantly find myself having to interpret, you know, legal, um, legal text and also anticipate, you know, it’s one thing about what’s the right engineering, but then there is also the legal interpretation of it- Yeah

uh, as well, you know, in terms of contract law, but then also in, in terms of safety. Yeah. Um, yeah. Was this certification done correctly? You know- Yeah … that’s got some legal aspect to it. So yeah, that- Yeah … makes sense to me. Insurance is another one where I would say- Yeah, actually that came up … you know, like some, some people might think that that doesn’t sound interesting, but yeah, in- insurance is the other-

Matthew Stead: Mm

Rosemary Barnes: aspect that you [00:22:00] just can’t, um, you can’t get away from it. Like, you can’t just think that you’re, you’re doing your engineering without bothering about Mm … yeah, like finance and law and, um, and insurance. Those are things that- Mm … you spend a lot of time thinking about.

Matthew Stead: Yeah. Mm. And I guess we would also love to hear, you know, about potential speakers, but we’d also love to hear any other topics that people are attending and want to know about as well.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm-hmm.

Allen Hall: Absolutely. And if you haven’t registered for WOMA 2027, which will be March 3rd through 5th at the Pullman in East Melbourne, right? East Melbourne, yeah. They just redefined it. It’s Pullman in East Melbourne. Uh, go ahead and go to woma2027.com and register now. Uh, Matthew and Rosemary, it’s great to see you in person again, and we’ll see you in a couple of weeks, uh, hopefully in, in Germany.

Rosemary Barnes: Mm.

Allen Hall: Very [00:23:00] exciting.

What Operators Want to Hear at WOMA 2027

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