In the final episode of 2021, in which we saw huge growth in offshore wind, Allen and Rosemary give their big takeaways from the year along with predictions for what's to come in 2022. Will we see 20MW wind turbines? A development slowdown due to inflation? Regulatory hurdles? Go here for the video about McDonald's ice cream machines mentioned on the show.



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! 







Transcript: EP93 of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast



00:00:37:11 - 00:00:38:13Welcome back.



00:00:38:13 - 00:00:40:00I'm Dan Blewett.



00:00:40:00 - 00:00:44:18I'm Allen Hall and I'm Rosemary Barnes,and this is the Up Time podcast



00:00:44:23 - 00:00:48:03bringing you the latest in windenergy, tech news



00:00:48:03 - 00:00:49:18and policy.



00:00:59:22 - 00:01:00:06All right.



00:01:00:06 - 00:01:02:17Welcome back to the UptimeWind Energy podcast.



00:01:02:18 - 00:01:05:03I'm your co-host, Dan Blewett on today'sshow,



00:01:05:03 - 00:01:08:14we're going to do a sort of 2021a year and wrap up.



00:01:08:23 - 00:01:11:20So aside from a couple topicswhich we're going to talk about,



00:01:12:04 - 00:01:16:00including balsa wood harvesting, obviouslythat's used in wind turbine blades.



00:01:16:00 - 00:01:18:06And as they've expanded in size,



00:01:18:06 - 00:01:21:08that harvesting has sped up,which is threatening the rainforest.



00:01:21:10 - 00:01:22:13We'll talk through that



00:01:22:13 - 00:01:25:16as well as maybe some possiblereplacements for that material



00:01:26:09 - 00:01:27:14in the near future.



00:01:27:14 - 00:01:31:07What about Germany phasing outnuclear power and Siemens Gamesa



00:01:31:07 - 00:01:35:09accepting bids to sell off the winddevelopment arm of their business?



00:01:35:09 - 00:01:37:08And then, as we do our sort of 2021



00:01:37:08 - 00:01:40:16wrap up, we have five questionswe're going to throw to our experts here



00:01:41:05 - 00:01:42:09about, you know, developments.



00:01:42:09 - 00:01:45:13They see predictionsand maybe some surprising things



00:01:45:13 - 00:01:47:07about the year behind us.



00:01:47:07 - 00:01:49:16So look for thatin the second half of today's show.



00:01:49:16 - 00:01:53:15Before we get going, be sure to subscribeto Uptime Tech News, which you will find



00:01:53:15 - 00:01:56:23in the show notes of this podcast,as well as Rosemary's YouTube channel.



00:01:57:07 - 00:01:58:17Where is you doing twice a month?



00:01:58:17 - 00:02:02:03Live streamsand all things renewable and wind energy



00:02:02:03 - 00:02:05:05shows a great job there, so check outboth in the description below.



00:02:05:16 - 00:02:09:22So first thing on the docket today,we're going to talk about balsa wood.



00:02:09:22 - 00:02:13:10So obviously this is used structurallyin wind turbine blades, and the bigger



00:02:13:10 - 00:02:18:08they get, the more this has been usefuland necessary to increase harvesting.



00:02:18:17 - 00:02:21:08And of course, just like anythingas demand goes up,



00:02:21:08 - 00:02:24:16this is putting strainon this natural resource.



00:02:24:18 - 00:02:28:15Rosemary, obviously working for Elm WindPower, you have a pretty good idea of,



00:02:28:16 - 00:02:31:16you know, the vendor relationshipsand all of the materials



00:02:31:16 - 00:02:32:23that go into these blades.



00:02:32:23 - 00:02:35:00Can you take us through this situationwith balsa wood?



00:02:35:00 - 00:02:38:09Like, where does balsa woodfit in to blade construction?



00:02:38:10 - 00:02:38:18Yeah.



00:02:38:18 - 00:02:42:18So Balsa Wood is a sand...