In this bonus episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, hosts Allen Hall and Joel Saxum delve into the complexities of bolt connections in the wind industry with Pete Andrews, the Managing Director of the UK-based company EchoBolt. With bolted connections being a key area undergoing significant changes in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, EchoBolt has introduced a new approach to bolt inspections that is faster and more accurate, transforming the way the wind industry thinks about bolts. The discussion covers the common issues facing bolted connections and how EchoBolt helps customers focus on problem joints.



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EchoBolt



Allen Hall: Welcome to an exciting bonus edition of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, where we explore the latest innovations in the wind industry. I'm your host Allen Hall, along with my co-host Joel Saxum, and today we have a game changing topic that's sure to spark your interest. As we know, the wind industry is relentlessly striving for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness, and one of the key areas that is undergoing significant changes is the bolted connections.



Today we have the pleasure of hosting Pete Andrews, managing director at EchoBolt, the UK based company that is revolutionizing bolt inspections instead of traditional re-tensioning methods. Echobolt has introduced a faster and more accurate approach that has the potential to transform the way the wind industry thinks about bolts.



So join us as we delve deeper into the complexities of bolted connections in in wind, and discover the cutting edge technology that EchoBolt is bringing to the. Pete, welcome to the program



Pete Andrews: Hi, Allen. Thank you very much. It's good to be here.



Allen Hall: So one of the, the concerns out in the industry at the moment is what is happening with all these bolted connections and some of the problems we're seeing in bolted connections, in particular in the United States.



We're seeing a lot of issues with blade bolts and foundation bolts. Are you seeing some of the same things over in Europe?



Pete Andrews: Yeah, I think so. I think it's really a story of two halves with bolted connections on wind turbines. Either your bolts are, are behaving in a static manner and a fine, and you can almost leave them alone for the life of the asset, or you have persistent problems and it's exactly the same story for us.



It's blade to blade bearing connections. Sometimes foundations where. Degradation of concrete, et cetera. And so we are really helping customers focus in on those problem joints and hopefully engineer ways and investigate and. Help 'em solve the issues that they're having. A question for you, Pete. 



Joel Saxum: So when we talk bolted connections, right on the wind turbine, we're ma mainly talking tower to foundation.



We're talking tower section to tower section and usually tower to bolts, or I mean tower to blades. Sorry, tower to bolts. Is, is, yeah, that's gonna happen. But to the blades. So do you run it, when you talk about, like, there, it's a dichotomy, right? It's either you're having problems or you're just beautiful and everything chugs along in its business as usual.



When you guys are out there and you don't have to name any, cuz we don't want to,