Siemens Energy's scrutiny of Siemens Gamesa unveils fresh worries - costs may surge past $5B! TPI highlights unforeseen expenses tied to blade issues, raising concerns about larger outlays. Tragic incident: Technician trapped in turbine hub in Spain. Legal hurdles emerge for EDF Renewables in Nebraska due to post-installation noise rule change. Phil Totaro addresses escalating restrictions on wind development - could ACP be the solution? After 18 years of permits, TransWest Express Transmission project, spotlighted by Joel Saxum, finally breaks ground. Discover our featured wind farm: Bison Wind Energy Center in North Dakota!











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 177



Allen Hall: Joel, this bear in China that everybody's talking about. It does look like a guy in a bear suit. I gotta be honest, it moves like a guy in a bear suit. 



Joel Saxum: I'm gonna tell you guys a story. I was gonna tell you this earlier, but this is a short one. So this is a very American thing and a very hillbilly in living in the sticks northern Wisconsin.



When I was a kid and growing up, we convinced one of our classmates that Bigfoot was real, Bigfoot is real well, that he was real and lived in the county that we were from. So one of our friends dressed up in a monkey costume, and we were, we were out looking for deer. And one night during the fall before, before the season, and we had this shining spotlight out, and a dude ran across the back of the field in a monkey costume.



Buddy freaked out, and then he was like, wait, we've gotta have proof of this. We gotta have him. And like, tried to grab a hunting rifle and was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're kidding, man. We're kidding. Like, it's not real. It's, it's, you know, it's so and so in a monkey costume. And they're like, he was like, I don't know.



That looked like Bigfoot to me. Like, no, no, man. We're messing with you. Only in Wisconsin. Yeah. I gotta look for you gotta make your own fun. You gotta make your own fun. 



Allen Hall: Well, this week we have some fascinating news. Siemens Gamesa is having huge quality issues, which we all knew. But the, the, the amount which it may impact Siemens energy is growing higher and higher by factors of.



One x two x three x at this point. And we're not sure where the pain is gonna stop, so we're, we're trying to keep track of that and, and figure out where Siemens and Siemens Gamesa are headed. And then TPI has had some recent blade issues and some warranty claims, repairs they have to go do that at this point are in the tens of millions of dollars to their bottom line, but they may be a lot higher based on noise we're hearing back from the industry.



Rosemary Barnes: And we are gonna talk a bit about health and safety, following the unfortunate death of a wind turbine technician in Spain. 



Phil Totaro: This week we're going to also discuss the Milligan One project in Nebraska owned by EDF, which is facing noise curtailment restrictions after the project was already permitted and has been operational for years.



This reflects a growing issue in the United States where moratoriums and restrictions are being put in place in more than 44 states around the country and counties and townships, and it's having potentially financially disastrous consequences for project developers. 



Joel Saxum: So then after we discuss about some of these issues that are happening to curtail development we're gonna talk about a victory.



So Wyoming Trans West Express Transmission Project finally permitted and moving forward,