Rosemary interviews two wind experts, and you're guaranteed to learn from both of them: Jessica O'Connor from ArcVera Renewables describes how wakes from large rotors cause a significant energy loss. Stability is the key - and the amount of loss is stunning. Then Brian Hill from Bachmann Electronics discusses turbine automation, focusing on North American installations, including cybersecurity for and repowering of older turbines.



But wait, there's more: like GM Ventures (yes, that GM) pouring $10M, and some project management expertise, into wind catching technologies. Plus, palm-tree inspired wind turbine designs (with the blades in the back?!) may withstand hurricanes. Some of the design elements are already proven, but how powerful can flexible blades be?



Visit ArcVera here - https://arcvera.com



Visit Bachmann here - https://www.bachmann.info/en



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! 






Uptime 119



Jessica O'Connor: What we're seeing is something that is. Really shown in any other wake models that are, you're trying to capture those external wakes is that these external wakes are lasting for over a hundred kilometers. Yeah, that's insane. It's waking the entire array. Just the Southern array is waking the entire.



Jessica O'Connor: Collection of array.



Allen Hall: Welcome to the uptime wind energy podcast, Rosemary what's first on our list this week,



Rosemary Barnes: we're gonna be talking about some wind turbines being designed in Colorado with the university and collaboration with NREL and they have Palm tree inspired, wind turbines to survive. Hurricane forces. And we've got a couple of fun interviews that I recorded while I was at Texas clean power conference a little while ago with Jessica O'Connor of Avera about awake model that they've developed for offshore wind and Brian Hill of Buckman about some of their control system retrofits that they can do.



Allen Hall: And then we talk about GM. Yes, the GM and the United States makes all the automobiles is investing in multi turbine technology. Interesting development. We're also 



Joel Saxum: gonna talk about a consortium of energy producers in the United States that are putting together $6 billion to invest into someone to make them solar panels here.



Joel Saxum: All right, Rosemary. 



Allen Hall: Palm tree, wind turbines. I know this is gonna go right to your design engineering instincts. So the university of Colorado, sorry, Colorado university Boulder, which is a 



Joel Saxum: beautiful place. Gotta get it right. Get it right. It's a very beautiful place. 



Allen Hall: It has a great, it's a great campus by the way.



Allen Hall: They're they're doing some research there with, in the United States where they're looking at basically backward wind turbines. what I mean backward wind turbines is the blades are in the back and the cells in the front. And instead of having three blades they've are using two blades. And the, the rationale behind this is that in theory makes them more hurricane resistant, tolerant to big wind gusts.



Allen Hall: Now, I, I don't understand that part of it, but it's and Rosemary, this is where you can help us a little bit. Mm-hmm so the blades are supposedly are lighter. They need to be, they can be more flexible because there's less chance they're gonna run into the tower. Yes in the reverse situation. Okay. But that's the claim to fame is with the tube bladed system with.



Allen Hall: Pointing backwards. So when turning pointing backwards that they could handle much higher wind speeds and then it would make them possib...