Sinonus Blade Batteries, G+ Safety Report, ATT’s Immersive Safety Training

This week we discuss Sinonus' innovative approach to using wind
turbine blades for energy storage and the G+ Global Offshore Wind
Health and Safety Organization's report on safety incidents. Allen
and Joel discuss Active Training Team's (ATT) immersive safety
training methods, featured in PES Wind Magazine. We also highlight
Mississippi's first utility-scale wind farm, Delta Wind, featuring
41 Vestas 4.5 MW turbines. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our
weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is
sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about
Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS
retrofit. Follow the show
on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit
Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes'
YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the
show? Email us! Pardalote Consulting -
https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech -
www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen
Hall: A UK plane passenger awoke from a long nap thinking he'd
arrived at the destination, only to realize the aircraft was still
stuck at the gate. And if you haven't seen this little clip, this
guy was sleeping for a couple of hours. Over in the UK, wakes up,
asks his neighbor, Hey, are we there yet? And she turns and says,
no, we haven't left. We recently had that happen to us coming back
from San Diego, where I took a nap, and I swear, it must have been
an hour and a half later, we hadn't moved. And I don't, I think
Rosemary, you've been on some really long flights too. Are you
getting stuck on the ground for some of these flights? Rosemary
Barnes: It is so annoying when you're stuck on the ground, like
before you've got a, I don't know, an 18 hour flight or whatever to
get stuck on the ground for hours. And you're like, we're not even,
we're not even progressing. It's really hard to deal with mentally.
But they do often make it up because obviously they can, they don't
fly as fast as they can around the world all the time. They fly in
the way that's most fuel, more fuel efficient. So sometimes they
can burn a bit more fuel to get you there faster. If they, yeah, if
there's an economic reason for them to they're going to have to,
pay some penalties or hold a, of the next flight for people who
are, yeah, need to transfer. Joel Saxum: You could have been on a
flight like Allen and I were. Where, we were supposed to board at
4pm, we didn't end up boarding until 9pm, and then once we boarded,
and everybody got settled down and we were ready to push back from
the gate, then they informed us that the pilots had timed out on
their daily time limit, so they Did we all off boarded and then had
to get moved to flights the next day. Philip Totaro: I once fell
asleep on a train in Switzerland that eventually led me to being
escorted out of the country. It can happen. Allen Hall: Welcome to
the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm Allen Hall and here's this
week's headlines. Vestas has received a massive 577 megawatt order
from Tag Energy to supply wind turbines for the second stage of the
landmark 1. gigawatt Golden Plains onshore wind project in
Australia. Vestas will deliver 93 of their megawatt turbines during
the first quarter of 2025 with commissioning expected in 2026.
Vestas is currently working on the first stage of the project that
will utilize 122 of the V162 6. 2 megawatt machines. When
completed, the Golden Plains site will be Vestas largest onshore
wind farm to date. Vestas has also secured a 660 megawatt order
from RWE for the Nord Sea Cluster A offshore wind project in
Germany. A delivery of the 44 15 megawatt turbines is expected in
2026. Vestas will also service the turbines under a five year
agreement followed by an operational support agreement. Meanwhile
in the U. S., Dominion Energy is installing its first model pile
foundations for the 6. 2 gigawatt coastal Virginia offshore wind
project, marking the official construction kickoff. The 9. 8
billion project, slated for completion in late 2026, will
ultimately feature 176 turbines. On the West Coast, RWE is set to
commence site surveys for its planned 1. 6 gigawatt floating wind
farm 20 miles off of Humboldt County, California. RWE is using an
autonomous underwater vehicle for the surveys to minimize impacts
on marine life and fishing. In other U. S. news, the future of
popular Chinese drone maker DJI remains uncertain as Congress
weighs a potential ban over national security concerns. A ban could
disrupt key industries reliant on DJI drones from agriculture to
search and rescue and stifle competition and innovation in the
drone market. However, proponents argue it would bolster American
drone companies. This situation highlights the complex
considerations around foreign technology, and national security.
And finally, a new Columbia University report reveals surging local
opposition is blocking hundreds of renewable energy projects across
the U. S. with dozens of new restrictions in just the last year.
Offshore wind faces particularly tough Stiff challenges as high
profile developments battle lawsuits over impacts on endangered
species and shorelines. While some opposition appears coordinated,
experts believe much reflects the genuine grassroots concerns over
perceived ecological risks. The report warns that growing
resistance could seriously impede climate progress, underscoring
the urgent need for officials and developers. To better address
local worries and build community support for critical and
renewable energy development. Failure to effectively navigate this
opposition may threaten the nation's ability to achieve a cleaner
energy future. That's the week's top news stories. Now here's our
panel renewable energy expert and founder of Pardalote Consulting,
Rosemary Barnes. CEO and founder of IntelStor, Phil Totaro, and the
chief commercial officer of Weather Guard, Joel Saxum. In the race
to transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future, as everybody
has talked about on this podcast the rise of renewable energy
sources like wind and solar have been a game changer, everybody.
But the, one of the biggest challenges is storage, right? So
there's been a lot of companies looking at different kinds of
storage. There is a Swedish startup that's looking at, using the
carbon fiber in wind turbine blades as a storage device. That
company is named Sinonus and they are talking about structural
batteries. So essentially taking the carbon fiber that's used as
structure for these really long wind turbine blades and using the
carbon fiber as an electrode and a conductor and also load bearing
structural aspects. Now, And this is Rosemary, and this is where I
want to get you involved in this. They're saying that they can add
electricity storage without adding any extra weight to the
structure. And I'm trying to understand. For multiple reasons,
Rosemary, because you've been involved in blade design, structural
design. You're a composites expert. And you had the opportunity to
play around with lightning and icing systems or de icing systems on
blades. There's a lot, electrically, that can happen on a wind
turbine blade. Is using the carbon a good way to store energy? on a
blade? Rosemary Barnes: I, it's really disappointing that they
haven't even given a stab at how much could be stored in a blade.
Because and I don't fully understand the mechanism. I have worked
on projects that used carbon fiber in blades as a, yeah, as a
heating element. And even considered the possibility of using the.
Connective parts of a blade as a lightning conductor, purposely
doing it rather than, having to try. Obviously the blade wants that
to happen. When lightning hits it, it does want to go through all
those conductive elements, but to, design it so that it's on
purpose and that it won't damage the blade structure. So definitely
consider all that, but it was never like this article that I've
read says that it's a way of getting something for nothing. And I
think that's a a really strange interpretation of that phrase. Like
when I hear the phrase getting something for nothing, I don't
think, Oh, you don't add any weight to a turbine. I would think you
don't add any cost to a turbine, which obviously is not going to be
true. It's also not going to be true that you don't add any weight
to the turbine, because obviously there are components that need to
be added. It doesn't, there isn't batteries in every single cup of
fiber blade out there already, or you're going to need to do some
sort of tweaks, and I don't know what they are, because it hasn't
been mentioned in the article. Yeah, definitely not something for
nothing whether or not it's worth it or not would just totally
depend on how much energy storage could be in there. But it, I
don't know, to me, it feels so much it's a kind of a recurring idea
that pops up again and again in conversations that I used to have
when I was, working, leading the Blade de icing team and now it
pops up in comments on YouTube. People always want to, take what's
there. there and then get something else out of it. So a really
common one that I hear is, okay, why don't we store weights at the
top of a wind turbine and then lower them with an electric winch
when you the wind isn't blowing and then you've got energy storage.
Oh, Hey, you've got this big steel cylinder. You could be using
that for compressed energy storage. Yeah, or pumped hydro, put a
reservoir at the top of the nacelle. Everyone always wants to do
these like little add ons. And I think that the first thing that
you've got to consider is, how much would it cost to add a lithium
ion battery that does the same thing as what you're trying to do?
If it's a small amount of energy stored and it's a small lithium
ion battery, Then, but it's so obvious that's what you would do.
It's, it's a very neat, simple system.