Sara Vinson always wanted to do all she could for the environment around her, from installing solar panels to her Covington, Georgia home in 2019, to co-founding Sustainable Newton to educate her community about federal incentives for household clean energy and energy efficiency. So, after unexpected car trouble in 2019, Sara had no doubt that it was time to make the switch to driving an electric vehicle and stop having to pay for the maintenance of an internal combustion engine (ICE) car – and she hasn’t looked back.
Read on to learn more about Sara’s process of purchasing both new and used EVs, her husband’s experience driving an EV work truck as a contractor, and the misconceptions they’ve both debunked over the past five years – from the ease of charging on road trips to the durability of an electric truck. As members of the Clean Energy Generation, there is a way for each of us to help power the EV movement. Whether that means advocating for charging infrastructure in our communities, making the switch to an EV, or learning more to make our communities healthier and safer, for today and for future generations – all together, we are making a difference.
Sara Vinson with her new Volkswagen ID.4.
Explain your first experience of buying an EV?
We transitioned to our first EV in 2019. I had gone through Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project training in Atlanta that April, and one of the things they challenge you with is to come up with your own slide presentation to present to community groups. In my presentation, I had a slide proclaiming that my next car would be an EV. But I didn’t know that would happen so quickly. Just a few months later, in August, I took in my Mini Cooper – which I had been driving for years and loved and cared for – for a routine oil change, during which something happened and the engine was destroyed. In the end, the business owner wouldn’t take responsibility for the damage that had been done, and my last words for him were, “My next car will be an EV, and I will never need another oil change again!”
So my husband and I immediately started looking. At first, we did consider buying a hybrid EV, but one of our hesitations with the hybrids was that I would still need to get an oil change and all the other maintenance that comes with a normal combustion engine vehicle. We ended up purchasing a used Volkswagen e-Golf and had it delivered to our house. However, we hadn’t installed any kind of charging apparatus, and when the car was delivered, it only had 13 miles of charge on it – they had not charged the car before they delivered it to us. What we quickly learned is we could actually just plug it right into the wall, so we did. Within a couple of weeks, we had an electrician come out and install a charger, allowing us to charge a lot faster than just plugging into the wall.
Sara Vinson charging her used Volkswagen e-Golf.
What was your motivation for transitioning to an electric vehicle?
Before having to purchase an EV, I’d known EVs were the coming technology. I had heard what the car companies were saying – namely General Motors, saying that by 2035, all of their cars would be EVs. My husband and I knew an EV was in our future, but we just didn’t know how quickly it would come.
I knew I wanted to do all I could for my environment, so the initial motivation was reducing our family’s carbon footprint, but it’s been great to see the savings an EV can bring. I’ve been driving an EV now for almost five years, so I haven’t gone in for a single oil change or really any services. In 2021, we made the jump to the new Volkswagen ID.4. They include these service checkpoints that are free when you buy the new car, so I’ve gone in for those, but there’s been no maintenance costs for the used Volkswagen e-Golf or the new Volkswagen ID.4. It’s been great because those oil changes and the cost of gasoline can really add up.
When we had our EV home charger installed, we took advantage of a Georgia Power financial rebate for installing your charger. We bought the first EV in 2019 before there were any federal tax credits, like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. However, for our second EV, the new Volkswagen ID.4, we were able to get the $7,500 tax credit from the IRA, and same recently with my husband’s Ford Lightning.
Were there misconceptions that you had when considering whether or not to buy one that were debunked?
RANGE ANXIETY
The Volkswagen e-Golf had a range of 150 miles, which was fine for the type of driving I was doing at that time, just around Covington. It was also enough to get me comfortably to the Atlanta airport and back, to get to my parents who live on the northern side of Atlanta and back, or to get to Athens, Georgia and back, each about 90 miles roundtrip. We even took it on a trip to Chattanooga – we had to make one stop, but we were able to stop at the Telus Science Museum, where they offered free level two (L2) charging at that time. We were able to get the miles we needed but also enjoy lunch and a visit to a museum we’d never seen before. We were surprised when we got to Chattanooga that the hotel we were staying at also offered free charging.
The new Volkswagen ID.4 we bought in 2021 offered increased range to about 250 miles, and that has been good because it’s allowed us to travel further without needing to charge. We’ve gone up to Virginia and other places around the Southeast. You hear all sorts of horror stories about people not being able to charge but we just haven’t had that experience. We recently went to Charleston, South Carolina and stopped at a Nissan dealership because at the time Nissan dealers were required to have fast chargers to promote their EVs. It turns out that many dealers don’t want to mess with making people pay for charging, so it was free and they were very welcoming. Similarly, we went to Greenville, South Carolina recently, and their city is offering free L2 and fast charging.
Range anxiety is real, but there are apps like Plugshare that show you how many chargers really are out there. On these apps, you can read the reviews of charging stations to see whether they’re working or not. On our trip to Virginia a year ago, we took back roads through the mountains. We knew that going up a mountain uses more charge, so we had to be really careful. Plugshare allows you to plot a route, and it tells you if your specific EV will have enough miles to get to the next destination or if you need to add a stop to charge, and to check the reviews and rating of each station.
EVS AREN’T JUST SEDANS
In 2022, my husband, who is a contractor and had long been driving a Chevy Silverado, was able to get a Ford Lightning to use as his work truck. For him on a day-to-day basis, it has been a reliable truck, even as just the base model without all the bells and whistles. Additionally, I have a farm business – it’s just a small farm, but when I have to make deliveries around town, I use the truck. It’s been great to be able to make those deliveries in an EV and not feel that I’m adding carbon emissions to my community.
Sara’s husband’s Ford Lightning, which he uses as his work truck as a general contractor.
KEEPING THE POWER ON + SAVING MONEY
We didn’t get the whole home charging option for the Ford Lightning because it is much more expensive. But even without the charging system, in a power outage, we are able to run an extension cord from the truck and power our refrigerator, our modem, and more. It’s been really great in those situations to be able to keep the things we want running just with the battery from the truck.
And the savings are clear as day to us: my husband went from paying $68 every two weeks to fill his Chevy Silverado to now paying less than $1 per week to charge his Ford Lightning.
CHARGING AN EV ≠ COLLAPSING THE GRID
Part of the savings above are because we’re on the Georgia Power electric vehicle time of use plan, which makes electricity very inexpensive at night, when we charge our EV.
I know other utility companies don’t have the time of use plan we have; very few people in our county are on Georgia Power so can’t take advantage of it like we can. But I think that together we’ll get there because especially in the summer, when people are running their air conditioners, utility companies don’t want people to come home and plug in their cars and increase already-high demand. In order to get people to charge at night when there’s less demand, from industry and residential, more utilities are going to have to adopt a time of use plan for their customers.
Do you notice EV infrastructure increasing around your community?
The city of Covington is an electricity provider and has installed L2 chargers at two locations around the Covington Square, an area that draws tourists who come to visit filming locations for The Vampire Diaries, Sweet Magnolias, and other television shows and films. The city also recently installed a DC fast charging station close to an I-20 exit. In addition, Covington is working with Clean Cities Georgia to access federal grants in order to install more public chargers and as well as chargers for the city’s own electric vehicles. Right now, the City of Covington has just two EVs in their fleet, but I’m hoping that number will grow as they see firsthand the savings on fuel and maintenance.
Besides the chargers that the city of Covington has installed, I’m noticing chargers popping up at local hotels and newer apartment complexes. Oxford College of Emory University has a charging station, and the City of Oxford has a charging station along with a Tesla that they use as a police vehicle.
You hear all sorts of horror stories about people not being able to charge but we just haven’t had that experience.
What advice do you have for someone who is considering making the switch to an EV?
Just go ahead and make that leap. A big tip I have is that new EVs are obviously nice, but there are a lot of good deals on used EVs at this time. Look for a 2021 to 2023 EV with low mileage, and give it a try. Some of the older EVs now may not have the fast charging capacity that newer ones have – my first EV, the used Volkswagen e-Golf, only had L2 charging capacity, so it was slower charge and I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the fast chargers that you want to use if you are traveling. The newer EVs all have the fast charging capacity, but there are some fantastic deals on used EVs these days.
GET INVOLVED IN THE CLEAN ENERGY GENERATION
As members of the Clean Energy Generation, we all have the power to make a difference where we can in reducing our environmental impact and bettering our communities. Like Sara, we can move step by step in our journey to electrifying our cars, whether it’s first attending an event to learn more about EVs, purchasing a used EV before a new one, or researching if an EV is suitable for your work vehicle. We all have the potential to learn more and share solutions with others, and when we join together, the possibilities are endless.
Join the Clean Energy Generation
Join Our Next Clean Energy Generation Call
#CEGMemberStories
The post Sara Vinson: How Vowing Against Oil Changes Led to a Family Love of EVs appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Sara Vinson: How Vowing Against Oil Changes Led to a Family Love of EVs
As shown here, there are (formerly credible) people who are telling us that Trump is restoring Americans’ trust in government.
Do they truly believe this?
One of the casualties of the post-truth era is that the statements of our “leaders” no longer are required to have any basis in fact. What Jim Jordan says here is a fine example.
When he says “better” here, is he referring to runaway inflation? Trump’s purposeless and illegal war with no end in sight? His blatant corruption and criminality? His having, quite successfully, divided the American people into groups that hate each other? The enrichment of billionaires at the expense of the working class? The carefully engineered collapse of the environment so as to favor his donors in fossil fuels? The demise of the U.S. educational system?
Please be clear.
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
CNC Onsite Cuts Repair Costs With Uptower Machining
Søren Kellenberger, CEO of CNC Onsite, joins to discuss uptower yaw gear repairs, flat tower flanges, and replacing 1,000 blade root bushings across 26 turbines.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
Allen Hall 2025: Soren, welcome back to the podcast.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you, Allen, and, uh, nice doing it, uh, face-to-face- Yes, it’s great … and not as a team, uh, call. Right. That’s
Allen Hall 2025: true. Yeah. You’ve been doing a good bit of traveling, and you’re the new head of CNC Onsite.
Søren Kellenberger: I am, yes.
Allen Hall 2025: So congratulations on that.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you very much.
Allen Hall 2025: And all the exciting new things that CNC Onsite [00:01:00] is doing, plus all the things you have developed and are now out in the field implementing, the, the list goes on and on and on.
I’m alwa- every time I talk to you, “Oh, we got a new-” Yeah … “machine to do something uptower.” So it’s all uptower, which is the, the beauty of CNC Onsite. You’re thinking about the operator and the cost to pull the blades off and do lifting the cell off and all those things. If we can do it uptower, we can save 30, 40, 50% of the cost of a repair.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s where CNC Onsite is just really killing it. You guys are doing great. Thank
Søren Kellenberger: you. Of course, we like what we do, but, uh, thank you.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, it’s good, it’s good. And, and so w- let’s talk about the things that I know about, and we’ll start there, and then we’ll go to all the new things you’re doing.
So the one that I see a lot of operators asking about is yaw tooth. Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: Uh,
Allen Hall 2025: deformations, broken teeth on the yaw gear. That’s a big problem. And when I talk to [00:02:00] technicians, and I have them texting me about this, like, “Oh, well, I just weld on the gear back on, weld the tooth back on.” That’s a short-term solution.
That’s not gonna be long-term. The long-term solution is the CNC Onsite. Can you explain what you do to permanently fix these yaw gear problems?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. So what we do is actually we start by getting information about the, uh, original yaw ring, so the dimension of the teeth, and we get some load data. And, uh, then we start designing a replacement segment.
Uh, so what we ac- the process is actually that we bring a CNC controlled machine uptower, mount it on the yaw ring, and then we mill away that worn area, uh, creating a small pocket. And then those, uh, segments that we have designed, they are prefabricated. We bring them up and mount them in, in that, uh, pocket and bring the- The yaw ring back to where it’s, you can say, original design, uh, [00:03:00] that way.
Yeah
Allen Hall 2025: It’s better than the original design, ’cause you’re actually putting in better teeth than the, the manufacturer did originally.
Søren Kellenberger: True. Yeah, yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So that happens, so you’re, you’re machining out those old teeth, broken teeth, putting the new set of teeth in th- and that all bolts in, and that’s it. That’s it.
But the, the difficulty is getting the machinery uptower to do that. That’s where a lot of your, your technology comes from, is getting this very accurate, uh, well-defined machine uptower and doing very controlled grinding and milling. Yes. So can you explain what that system looks like? If I’m gonna grind off those yaw, broken yaw teeth, how big is that kit?
Søren Kellenberger: It… Obviously, it depends a little bit on the turbine size. Sure, okay. Yeah. So, uh, it, so the, the newer five, six, uh, 10 megawatt turbines have larger teeth, so yeah, there you need a, a larger machine.
Allen Hall 2025: Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: But let’s say for, uh, Vestas three megawatt, the, the [00:04:00] complete machine weighs about 250 kilos. That’s it? So yeah.
So it, it comes up in smaller components. We just use, uh, the, the internal crane in, in the nacelle, and, uh, then we can lift the components to the yaw ring, assemble the machine, and then we are basically good to go. So it take, takes less than a day to get everything up and, uh, get set and be ready to, to machine.
Allen Hall 2025: So if you wanna fix a yaw gear problem, how long does it take from start to finish to get that done?
Søren Kellenberger: It typically, it takes one day to get everything up and get ready, and then per six teeth, which is a typical segment, it takes about a day to machine that. Okay. So, uh, let’s say you have, uh, somewhere between 10 and 15 teeth, it’s, uh, two to three segments.
So we do that in a week. Um-
Allen Hall 2025: Wow … and- ‘Cause the alternative is call a crane, have them lifting the cell off.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Take the yaw gear off, put a yaw gear on, if you can find a yaw gear. Yes. Put the nacelle back on. [00:05:00] Well, and I guess obviously the rotors are coming down too, so- Yeah. You’re talking about- Yes
hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime. Yeah. It’s a big ordeal. The CNC Onsite method is so much easier.
Søren Kellenberger: We will just put our equipment in the back of our truck- … and then, uh, we’ll, we are ready to mobilize in a few days. So yeah, we can significantly, uh, bring down the downtime and, and as you said, the crane cost is of course extremely high.
And then you can add all the project management. You know, con- do I actually have my access roads, uh, still available? Right. Is the crane pad intact? And all of that stuff you need to organize. You can just forget about that and, uh- And
Allen Hall 2025: get it done …
Søren Kellenberger: get it done. Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. There’s, there’s a lot of owners, we, everybody knows who the machines are that have the, the, the yaw tooth problem.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So if you’re one of those owner operators, you better get ahold of CNC Onsite. Now, flanges on tower sections. It’s become a, a really critical issue. You hear a lot of, of [00:06:00] operators, OEMs talking about, “I’m putting together these tower sections and those flanges don’t really meet up quite right.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yep.
Allen Hall 2025: “I’m creating uneven torque patterns, bolt pat- my bolt tightening is not quite right.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: And it never really seats right, so you have this mechanical, built-in mechanical problem. CNC Onsite is now fixing that so those flanges are actually really flat. Really flat, yes. ‘Cause that’s what you need.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. They’re highly loaded.
Søren Kellenberger: If, if you want, uh… If you want your joints to be, uh, basically maintenance free, uh, we can, uh, achieve that with machining the flanges. And then, of course, you need to be in control with your bolt tightening process. Sure. But if you do those two things, you can have maintenance free bolted connections, and there’s so much money to be saved in the operations.
Um, and of course, when you have these bolts that end up fatiguing, some of them don’t get caught in time and you end up ha- having a catastrophic failure on the turbine. Uh- We’ve [00:07:00] seen that … because you have that zipper effect. Once a bolt starts breaking, the neighboring ones take that extra load and it accelerates really quickly.
Uh, yeah. Sure does.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. It’s a very serious situation, but it starts with this very simple solution which is just make the flange flat.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. But I think it’s some… a part of the issue is that those buying the towers aren’t necessarily responsible for the operational cost of maintaining that bolted connection.
So they might save a little bit of money when they buy the tower sections with rougher tolerances, but you will spend the money 10 times in the operations. Uh, and, and that’s, I think that’s where some of the operations, uh, re- the, the, those responsible for operational costs should, uh, get a little bit more CapEx spend, uh- Oh, sure.
Yeah. And, and then, uh, actually save a lot of money and, and reduce risk. Uh, it’s a huge, huge risk
Allen Hall 2025: It’s, it’s one of those lessons learned. You [00:08:00] don’t know that they should be flat. You shouldn’t know… You don’t know your flanges should be flat until you experience the problems, and then you want all your flanges flat from here on out.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: But there’s only one way to do that really, and that’s to call CNC Onsite to come in and to make them flat.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Because it’s a difficult thing to do. You really need to have the machining prowess and the tight tolerances that CNC Onsite’s gonna deliver in a tool that can actually be adapted to that tower ring and make those surfaces flat.
It’s complicated. Exactly.
Søren Kellenberger: It is. Uh, but that is what we do every day, so, uh- Yes, I’ve noticed … yeah, so
Allen Hall 2025: so- You take on those challenges
Søren Kellenberger: So we are optimizing our machines to be not only fit for one-offs, but actually to go into a manufacturing, uh, process. So we have op- optimized our machines a lot with, uh, automatic alignment and, uh, stuff like that to, to really make that process, uh, easier.
Because it has been considered that when you had to machine a flange, you weren’t in [00:09:00] control with your production, uh, processes. But I think that is, um, a bit of a misinterpretation. It’s, it’s a little bit like saying when I have a casted component, I cannot get a bearing fit, uh, in my cast process. That’s not because your cast process is wrong, there’s just some limitations to what you can do.
Sure. And it’s basically the same here. Yes. And, and if you apply that con- uh, planned machining, you can gain some real benefits, uh, later on and the cost will, of course, drop dra- dramatically if you plan it, rather than call for one, uh, every time you have one that is out of tolerances and, and you can even narrow those tolerances down and get the benefits from maintenance-free bowler connections.
Allen Hall 2025: Right.
Søren Kellenberger: Uh-
Allen Hall 2025: Right, ’cause you’re gonna pay for it for the next 20, 30 years. Yeah. Yeah. That’s absolutely right. Now, you’re getting involved in some of the safety aspects of operating a turbine. Uh, some of the pins and the lockouts on the low-speed gearboxes get a little worn over time, so the hole [00:10:00] you put the pin in gets worn.
There’s a lot of loads on that and- Yeah … it starts to oblong out and eventually, if you’re trying to work on that gearbox, you’re trying to keep that and your technicians safe, which is what you’re doing- Yeah … that lockout pin doesn’t quite fit in the hole and it creates a little bit of a safety risk.
Yeah. So now CNC on-site’s coming in and saying, “Hey, wait a minute. We can realign that, clean that hole up, make that safe again.”
Søren Kellenberger: Yes.
Allen Hall 2025: Explain what that looks like and what that process is to do that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. So again, it’s the same thought like with the, with the O-ring, uh, that instead of bringing a component down and trying to fix it, we have designed some machinery we can bring uptower and then make that repair.
So basically what we do is that, that we mill that hole a little bit larger and then we bring a bushing, uh, that we, uh, freeze into that hole- Okay … and to recreate that tight fit again with a, with a locking pin. Uh, so it’s, it’s not that [00:11:00] complicated, but you still need to know, of course, what you are doing.
So finding the center of the original hole is one of the critical things because you want the center of the new ring to be in that same position- Sure … to make sure it fits with the pin
Allen Hall 2025: right. So- Right. You can’t just take a drill up there and try to clean out that hole. No, no. That is not the way to do that
That,
Søren Kellenberger: that
Allen Hall 2025: won’t work. No, no . I’m sure it’s been tried, but- Yeah … no, you wanna have accurate mach- actual, uh, tight tolerance machinery up there to, to align that hole, drill it properly, put that insert back into that spot- Yeah … which is gonna be a hardened insert so it’ll last longer, right?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah, yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So once you do that, y- it’s a permanent fix to a otherwise nagging problem.
That’s wonderful.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: So, th- again, that kit just goes right uptower, right up the, the lift, right up the cl- crane- Exactly … and bang, you’re done. Yeah. Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: So all our machines are designed to be able to be lifted with the internal crane-
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah …
Søren Kellenberger: of that specific nacelle.
Allen Hall 2025: Okay.
Søren Kellenberger: So obviously as the cells go bigger, they have more load cap- uh- Me too
load capacity. Yeah. So for the smaller [00:12:00] turbines, the machines come in, in a bit smaller parts- Okay … so that we are sure we stay within that 250 or 500 kilogram or even whatever the limit is of, of that- Yeah, yeah, yeah … crane. And then we can, uh, reassemble everything uptower and still do tolerances within a few hundredths of a millimeter.
And, and I think that is, that is really the core of, of what we do that, that we can achieve those workshop tolerances on site, um-
Allen Hall 2025: It’s crazy when I tell people that. I say, “Well, you know, CNC on-site, they can’t… I mean, those, those tolerances can’t be that tight.” And I say, “No, no, no, no. They’re talking about, you know, fractions of a millimeter,” which in, in American terms means fractions of a mil.
Yeah. That’s 1/1000th of an inch. That’s the tolerance you’re doing.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Uh, and that means quality at the end of the day. If you can machine things that tight, that means what you’re getting is gonna be right for that job. Yeah. It’s gonna fix that, fix that problem permanently, which is the goal. Yes. Don’t recreate the problem.
Just fix it once and be done. Now, blade root [00:13:00] inserts, huge issue. CNC on-site has been developing tooling to drill out those existing inserts and, and put in new inserts, and you’re having success with that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s a… it seems like a complicated process, but you have owned that quite well. Talk about what that machinery looks like today, how you’re doing that process, and what have you learned from doing some, uh, field work.
Søren Kellenberger: It’s, uh… we actually, we’ve, we’ve developed two different machines now. Okay. So we, we have, we have one that is, uh, fully CNC controlled, uh, when you need to do a lot of bushings. Yeah. Um, that one takes a bit more, uh, time to set up, but, but, uh, each drilling process is, is really fast. Uh, and then we have developed a semi-automatic machine as well, uh, which is a little bit easier to mount, mounts directly on the blade.
And it’s, uh, really perfect when you only have smaller areas of the, the blade root where you don’t need to replace all bushings- But maybe typically it’s, it’s in the high load [00:14:00] area, which is 15 to 20 bushings maybe. Right. Something like that, right? Yes.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: So, so there we can just mount it directly on the blade and, and then drill from, uh, from there.
Um, and it works really well. We completed, uh, the first large scale, uh, commercial, uh, project, uh, together with our good friends from, uh, We4C. Uh- Right.
Allen Hall 2025: Yes.
Søren Kellenberger: And, uh, and now we are producing, uh, two more drilling machines- Oh … uh, for, for new upcoming, uh, projects also together with, uh, the guys from, from We4C.
Allen Hall 2025: Wow.
Søren Kellenberger: So now it’s, it’s starting to, uh, to pick up. Um, it’s been a relatively long process, and I guess no one really wants to be the first mover on, uh, on new technology, right? Right. So we’ve had a lot of questions. Oh, that… And that looks interesting, but how many, uh, turbines, uh, or how many blades have you repaired?
And it’s been up until now, well, it’s only tested in the lab. Uh, but now we have the first, uh, large scale commercial, uh, project with, uh, 26, uh, turbines, [00:15:00] uh, repaired and, uh, and 1,000 bushings, uh, that were replaced, uh, across those, uh, 26 turbines. So-
Allen Hall 2025: Wow …
Søren Kellenberger: so I guess that is now large scale. Uh-
Allen Hall 2025: That’s large scale.
Yeah. Yeah. I would consider 1,000 a large scale test. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And that brings all those turbines back to life.
Søren Kellenberger: Absolutely. They are up running, uh, full power again, so, uh, that is, uh-
Allen Hall 2025: That’s huge …
Søren Kellenberger: really nice.
Allen Hall 2025: For the operator, I’m sure they love that.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. And, and of course, uh, there’s, there’s been a lot of discussions about blades and, uh, bla- the, the waste, uh, issue you have on, on worn- Oh
out blades. Sure. So by being able to fix them instead of replacing them, not only is the, the cost for fixing a blade a lot lower than buying new ones, uh, but, but also from a, an environmental perspective. The not having to scrap them and create that waste is, uh, is also a nice, uh,
Allen Hall 2025: thing. Yeah, it’s one of the things that pops up more recently about replacing blades, and I think the [00:16:00] industry and the operators are pushing back on that.
Uh, because a lot of times the OEM wants to replace a blade, it’s just easier for them to do.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: But the reality is, is that yeah, you’re creating this additional problem. What are you gonna do with the disposal of this blade? Do we really need to do that? Is it so far gone that I can’t recover it? I think a lot of times, especially with fiberglass blades- Yeah
you can bring them back to life.
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: Just with a little bit of engineering, uh, prowess and some good machinery- Yeah. You can, you can make magic happen, and that’s what CNC OnSite is doing. So that, that’s really amazing that, uh, you’re starting to get more adoption of that on, on the blade root inserts. I know across the United States there’s all kinds of issues, and you’re proving it out.
I think the adoption rate in America and all over is gonna really step up. Now, uh, you always have some cool new project, sort of top secret. What are you working on that the world needs to know about?
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah. W- I mean, we are constantly, uh, [00:17:00]expanding our, our line of services. Uh, so- Sure … so we are just out there trying to listen to what kind of issues do we see in, in the industry-
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah
Søren Kellenberger: and how can that be fixed, uh, uptower. So, so some of the, the latest, uh, innovations we’ve been doing is a, a new machine on, um… to, to do shaft milling. Uh, so that c- that can be on generator shafts, uh, for instance. There are some machines out there, but we’ve decided to go, uh, against CNC control- Okay
because it gives us a lot of, uh, opportunities both on, on speed, uh, of the process. It’s a more safe, uh, way to, uh, to do it.
Allen Hall 2025: Sure.
Søren Kellenberger: And we can actually also do different, uh, shapes on the shaft, so, so we can do more advanced, uh, repairs. Okay. We, we don’t need to stick to a certain diameter all the way. Now we can, we can mo- make grooves, and we can do, uh- Really?
all sort of sorts of stuff, uh- Oh … along that process because it’s CNC controlled.
Allen Hall 2025: Oh, sure. Okay. Um, and- Boy, okay. That makes a lot of sense. So you can actually take a, a, a basic, [00:18:00] basic, basic design of a shaft and make modifications to it- Yeah … to extend the lifetime and make it work better.
Søren Kellenberger: Yes. So typically we would mill down, uh, the shaft and- Sure
install a sleeve- Sure … to recreate a, a bearing fit, for instance.
Allen Hall 2025: Right. Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: But we have possibilities to, uh, to create, um, grooves or anything that would do a stress relief or whatever you need, lubrication, or if you, if you want to do something, uh, afterwards, we, we can do that with, uh, with our machines.
Uh- Yeah. So yeah, we, we have some new machines for, for hollow shaft, uh, machining, so we can do stuff, uh, inside the main shaft, for instance. We can do stuff on the, the outside, as I mentioned on, on the generator shaft, but that could be on the gearbox as well. So- Sure … sometimes we see issues on the main shaft to, to gearbox, uh, connection.
Allen Hall 2025: Yeah.
Søren Kellenberger: We are able to, to fix, uh, those, uh, things uptower. Wow. And, uh, so yeah, lot of new, uh, stuff being, uh, developed.
Allen Hall 2025: That’s, that’s awesome.
Søren Kellenberger: [00:19:00] Yeah.
Allen Hall 2025: And I, I know you guys are busy, but- If somebody wants to get ahold of CNC Onsite and get work done this year, they better be making phone calls to you- … quickly. So I, I know your order book is filling up and you’re, you’re having to devote crews and machinery and time.
Yeah. How do people get ahold of you and get on that contact list and can start working the process?
Søren Kellenberger: I would say go into, uh, cnconsite.dk and, uh, there we have all our, our contacts. Uh, so just reach out. There’s a, yeah, formula you can, uh, fill in, uh, or you can find our direct contacts in our webpage, and, uh, then we can start looking at it.
So we are quite busy, but we are always- Yeah … open for, uh, discussions and, uh, yeah. That,
Allen Hall 2025: that’s a problem with being successful, is you’re just always busy running around trying to take care of problems, and that’s the thing, is that everybody I talk to that’s used CNC Onsite loves it-
Søren Kellenberger: Yeah …
Allen Hall 2025: and loves the process and loves the work you do.
So there’s gonna be a lot more phone calls and a lot more orders coming your way, and that’s- Yeah … that’s awesome. [00:20:00] Soren- Yeah … it’s so good to see you again and it’s so good to see you in person. Yeah. And congratulations on the promotion and everything that’s happening at CNC Onsite.
Søren Kellenberger: Thank you, Allen. It’s a pleasure.
-
Greenhouse Gases9 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Climate Change9 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
-
Climate Change2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Renewable Energy7 months agoSending Progressive Philanthropist George Soros to Prison?
-
Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
-
Greenhouse Gases10 months ago
嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测