Offshore Energy Attacks, SunTrain, and Coffee Badging
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In this week’s Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, Allen Hall , Joel Saxum , Philip Totaro , and Rosemary Barnes discuss how the 500 documented attacks on undersea energy in Europe — in 2024– are likely to affect offshore wind development. The fascinating SunTrain project that could soon power Denver leaves our engineers with a lot of questions.
And here’s another we’re asking: as RTO mandates continue, could the Coffee Badging Olympics be far behind?
“We’re in a Bad Spot if This Makes Sense”
What do you know about SunTrain? Colorado’s Governor Polis is working with Xcel Energy and others to secure a $10M federal grant to fund operations. If successful, sometime in 2026, SunTrain would essentially become a green-ish energy “transmission line.” The plan is to use train cars to carry charged iron phosphate batteries about 100 miles from Pueblo, CO to Denver, where they would power 1,000 homes for a day, then return to Pueblo to recharge. The train cars would run on diesel. Anyone else have questions?
The Uptime team addresses some of the obvious ones, and brings up a few more…but before you say “that won’t work,” consider both the physical and political terrain, and the fact that it has already been demonstrated at proof-of-concept scale. Tune in to hear more about this strange, but perhaps oddly logical, project.
How Will NATO Address Offshore Wind Security?
NATO has committed to support the EU’s energy and data security but…how? While you might be stunned to learn that there were 500 documented attacks on European cables last year, Joel points out that the seabed is essentially a labyrinth of cables carrying data and electricity.
So how will 西门子 , 维斯塔斯 , other manufacturers and governments change the way offshore wind developments are designed and protected? Tune in to this week’s podcast for the discussion and stay tuned, because this conversation is just getting started.
Don’t Miss Wind Energy O&M Australia!
Subject matter experts from 32 companies, including Tilt Renewables GE Vernova EOLOGIX-PING , SkySpecs and others will present and answer your questions at Wind Energy O&M Australia. If you haven’t registered yet, NOW is the time to make your plans.
Space is limited at this two-day technical conference, which will offer practical information for operators, equipment life extension strategies, CMS, Leading Edge Erosion, and more. Plus, unlike a massive conference in a giant expo center, at Wind Energy O&M Australia, you’ll have excellent networking opportunities and enjoy candid, productive conversations with experts in the field.
Cross-State Win for this Wind Farm of the Week
Operations began at the Clearwater Energy Project near Miles City, Montana, in December 2023. The NextEra Energy Resources and Portland General Electric wind farm creates jobs and contributes economic development dollars in and around Rosebud, Custer and Garfield Counties in Montana.
Meanwhile, the project’s 243 GE turbines gather winds that blow across the Rockies from Eastern Montana and push the power to about 830,000 PGE customers in Oregon.
领英推荐
At the ribbon cutting, Governor Greg Gianforte said the project is part of the state’s “all of the above approach” to ramping up energy production, efforts that include wind, oil and gas, solar, and hydropower.
Find out more about the project in this week’s Uptime podcast!
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Have a great week and thanks for listening! - Allen, Rosie, Joel, Phil & everyone from the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast
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