Wind Industry Quality Crisis, US Election Impact on Renewables

This episode covers Vestas's manufacturing growth in Italy and
Siemens Gamesa's quarterly results showing both gains and ongoing
challenges. The hosts explore how the U.S. election results could
reshape renewable energy markets, with discussions ranging from
grid infrastructure to natural gas expansion. And an in-depth look
at quality control concerns at GE Vernova's LM Wind Power blade
manufacturing facility in Canada, where allegations of falsified
quality control data have emerged. Sign up now for Uptime Tech
News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This
episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn
more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS
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YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the
show? Email us! Pardalote Consulting -
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Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com
Allen Hall: An endangered sea turtle that was found about a year
ago, some 5, 000 miles from its native waters, has been released
back into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Houston Zoo. The sea
turtle was found off the coast of, guess where? The Netherlands,
after becoming entangled in the net of a commercial fishing boat.
The zoo said the turtle apparently was carried by currents until it
was found, and the U. S. National Fish and Wildlife Service secured
the turtle's return. Guys, there's a really interesting bit. Some
fishermen somewhere realized that this turtle didn't belong off the
coast of the Netherlands and decided to return it. Of all things.
They took it to the Rotterdam Zoo the Rotterdam Zoo where it was
nursed back the health. And then had a, must have a first class
flight back to Houston where it was put back in the Gulf of Mexico.
But this little turtle went a long ways. 5, 000 miles is quite a
ride, right? Joel Saxum: I can't imagine it was doing very well in
the cold water up there either. Cause right now, even now the Gulf
of Mexico is 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, he, the Allen Hall:
turtle at some point had to know it wasn't in the Bahamas anymore,
right? It's not gonna swim back from there. Rosemary Barnes: I saw
a story recently about a king penguin that that swam from
Antarctica to Australia to Perth. It was it's not that far, I think
it was like 3, 000 kilometers or maybe a little bit more, but
similar thing of yeah. Animal just, just the kind of point in the
direction and then just keep going until they reach land. It's some
decent persistence. Allen Hall: Isn't it crazy when you think about
how animals have moved around the planet? And then you, that's
impossible. And then Rosemary says there's a penguin that's got
about 1, 500 miles, just taking a light swim. Joel Saxum: That's
crazy. There's a book about this called Super Navigators, and it's
really fascinating, actually, to be honest with you. Allen Hall:
This turtle is back home in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico,
which is a great story, right? Gulf of Mexico for the winter.
Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen
Hall, and I'll be joined by my Uptime co host after these news
headlines. Thanks A major expansion of wind turbine manufacturing
is underway in Toronto, Italy as Vestas begins production of its
V236 15MW offshore wind blades. The facility will produce 115. 5
meter blades capable of powering 20, 000 European households each
year. The expansion, supported by EU recovery funds, will create 1,
300 new jobs in the region. The Port of Toronto has granted Vestas
a nine year concession to use its logistics platform, establishing
the port as a strategic hub for wind energy component manufacturing
and distribution. This development marks a significant step in
expanding Europe's wind energy supply chain. Siemens Gamesa
reported a mixed fourth quarter performance with revenue growing
significantly to 3. 1 billion. billion euros, up 19 percent
compared to the same period last year, driven largely by increased
offshore wind business activity. However, the division continued to
face challenges, posting a negative profit of 472 million euros for
the quarter. While this represents an improvement from last year's
670 million euro loss, the results still reflect ongoing project
margin pressures due to quality issues and increased product costs.
Orders were moderately down to 4. 1 billion euros compared to 4. 2
billion euros in the previous year. The company's order backlog
increased to 38 billion euros, supported by a major North Sea order
worth 2. 9 billion euros. Looking ahead to fiscal 2025, Siemens
Comansa expects revenue growth to decline between 5 and 9 percent
as it continues working towards achieving break even performance by
fiscal year 2026. Scottish Power Renewables has finalized a 1
billion pound agreement with SMOs CESA to supply 64 wind turbines
for its East Anglia two offshore wind farm. The project located off
England's East Coast has a capacity of nearly one gigawatt and will
use SG 14 SG 36 DD turbines with a 236 meter rotor diameter. The
115 meter blaze will be produced at Siemens GI Mesa's whole
facility. which has grown to employ 1, 300 people following the
addition of 600 new staff in the past year. The 4 billion pound
wind farm is expected to generate enough clean energy to power
nearly 1 million homes. GE Vernova, the world's third largest wind
turbine manufacturer, will continue its pause on seeking new
offshore wind turbine orders while awaiting improved market
conditions. The company currently has a 3 billion backlog that will
take two years to complete. CEO Scott Straszak cited supply chain
strains and rising interest rates as key challenges. The company's
offshore wind turbine unit has not added to its order backlog for
almost three years, instead focusing on executing existing
projects. GE plans to standardize its turbines to improve quality
and reduce costs, though it announced potential cuts of 900 jobs in
its offshore wind unit this September. The Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management has completed its final environmental impact statement
for the proposed 2. 4 gigawatt south coast wind project. The
development includes 147 wind turbines and five offshore
substations with eight offshore export cables, potentially making
landfall in Brighton Point or Falmouth, Massachusetts. The lease
area covers 127,000 acres, situated 26 nautical miles south of
Martha's Vineyard, and 20 nautical miles south of Nantucket. That's
this week's top. News stories. After the break, I'll be joined by
my co-host, the Chief Commercial Officer of Weather Guard Lightning
Tech. Joel Saxum the founder and CEO of Pardalote Consulting, Rosie
Barnes. And the founder and CEO of InterStor, Phil Totaro. Unlock
your wind farm's best performance at Wind Energy O& M
Australia, February 11th to 12th in sunny Melbourne. Join industry
leaders as they share practical solutions for maintenance, OEM
relations, and asset management. Discover strategies to cut costs,
keep your assets running smoothly, and drive long term success in
today's competitive market. Register today and explore sponsorships
at www. windaustralia. com. All Allen Hall: So preparations are
underway for Wind Energy O& M Australia in Melbourne on
February 11th if you haven't visited windaustralia. com, you're
missing out because the registrations are active. A lot of people
have registered already and the sponsors are rolling in. Joel
Saxum: So as we've been putting this together, we've had a lot of
reach outs. We've been reaching out on LinkedIn. We've been
reaching out an email to people down in Australia and around the
globe. And we've had quite a few people reach back out to us saying
they want to be involved. So we've got a couple of panelists line
or some great panelists lined up. We've got a few that we're in the
pipeline right now to be sponsors, and they're going to bring some
crazy, innovative ideas, some things that are happening around the
wind world where they're actually, they're helping operators in a
big way. But we can't say who they are quite yet, but stay tuned
for that. Allen Hall: Yeah, it's going to be a great event. Rosie's
going to be there. At least she promised to be there. Bill's going
to be there. Joel's going to be there. And I guess I'm coming too.
So it should be a good time. All the uptime crews will be there.
And if you're interested. In sponsoring or attending, you need to
visit windaustralia. com. Rosie, in the U. S. we had an election.
You may not have heard about it, but, Rosemary Barnes: Did you?
Allen Hall: Yeah, we did. Rosemary Barnes: Anyone I know involved?
Allen Hall: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have competed and at
least at the latest count it looks like Trump will be president
come January 20th. Now, this has sent the renewable energy world
all aflutter. There's a lot of concern about it because during the
election campaign, for offshore wind, Trump promised to shut down
all the permitting for, or put a suspension on all the permitting
for offshore wind. I don't even sure that is really possible
without having some valid reason, Joel. I'm not sure that can
happen, but there's a lot of people that are concerned about it,
and you've seen a number of LinkedIn articles saying the world is
ending, and I'm not sure that's the case. Rosemary Barnes: I, I
don't see it from an outside perspective. I can't see that it's
going to be disastrous for, Energy transition in general. However,
Trump really dislikes wind specifically. And I think that wind was
already probably not looked after as much as all other energy
transition technologies from the IRA. That's my belief anyway.