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The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast

The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast

By: Allen Hall Rosemary Barnes Yolanda Padron & Matthew Stead
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 Uptime is a renewable energy podcast focused on wind energy and energy storage technologies. Experts Allen Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Yolanda Padron, and Matthew Stead break down the latest research, tech, and policy.Copyright 2026, Weather Guard Lightning Tech Biological Sciences Earth Sciences Science
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  • Aerones Robots Scale LEP Repairs Across the US

    Aerones Robots Scale LEP Repairs Across the US
    Mar 26 2026
    Dainis Kruze and Janis Putrams, co-founders of Aerones, welcome Allen to their new Denton, Texas facility to discuss robotic spray-coat LEP repairs, third-generation internal blade crawlers, and their US-made inspection drone that eliminates Chinese components. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter 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 YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on Wind. Energy’s brightest innovators. This is the Progress Powering Tomorrow. Allen Hall: Dainis and Janis, welcome back to the program. Dainis Kruze: Thank you, Alan, for visiting us, uh, in, in our new facility. Allen Hall: Yeah. Is a great new facility. We’re in Denton, Texas, which is just north of Dallas. Uh, and you move from. Lake Dallas area. Mm-hmm. And we had visited that facility a year or so ago. This new facility is amazing. It’s what, probably four times the size. Yeah. Maybe a little bit bigger. And it is, uh, indicative of the growing business that Aeros has in the United States. And that’s wonderful. Uh, and I’m glad I could catch you in Texas ’cause I know you, you guys are running around the world all the time. Uh, I think the last time I was at. A facility with both of you was over in Riga? Dainis Kruze: Yes. Allen Hall: Uh, probably two years ago now. Oh, Dainis Kruze: yeah. Allen Hall: So I saw the Riga operation and, and now we’re seeing [00:01:00]the, the Denton US operation. You have facilities in other places too, right? Dainis Kruze: A small one in Australia, but, but yeah, the main facilities in Riga and the second biggest one here in, in Dallas. Allen Hall: A lot of technology changes since Rose Riga. Uh. Leading edge being the big one, leading edge protection materials. And when I talk to US operators, even operators in Australia, we’re just there. They love the idea and the application of a robot for leading edge repairs. Dainis Kruze: Oh yeah, Allen Hall: it makes total sense. It’s one of those areas that, uh, Rons has shown you can do this with a robot much more consistently. Has that business grown quite a bit since you first started it? Dainis Kruze: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We did more than 500 turbines last year, so we. The plan for this season is about one and a half thousand turbines, so it is growing quite a lot. Allen Hall: So the, the speed and the quantity of robots here in the United States is must have grown considerably. Dainis Kruze: Oh, yeah. Uh, one team now gets [00:02:00] up to 15 turbines a month. So if it’s category one or two turbine, uh, leading edge, uh, erosion, it’s about one day to do one turbine category three. Uh, one turbine is being done in two days, and we are talking about like 12 meter repair. It’s not a spot repair, it’s a full repair, like Allen Hall: full repair. Okay. Dainis Kruze: Yeah. Allen Hall: And the robot technology and the, the amount of technology on the robot is behind us has grown quite a bit. Uh oh. Yeah. You’re learning as you’re going. Obviously. I looked at a number of robots in at the Denton facility. Smarter robots. More data, more consistency. Particularly because the leading edge protection materials require a lot more care than rope technicians can generally create on site. Right. Walk us through what this robot is doing, why it’s doing what it’s doing, and, and like the, the quality you get coming out of it. ’cause what I see behind me is really nice. Better than, than [00:03:00] what I’ve seen typically coming out of a factory. Janis Putrams: Yeah. So multiple things actually we’ve been. Kind of what we’ve been hearing sometimes is that, um, that material’s good, the application seems good, but then it comes off after some time and you don’t understand what’s what happened, right? Yeah. So we understood to, to make it right. We need to make sure that both the kind of, we take the full ownership for the, for the whole process, for the application. And so we’ve been investing quite a lot in our lab to, to actually understand what the material needs, how the surface needs to be, be prepared. How do we measure it? How do we make sure the process is right? So actually what we saw is that, yeah, making sure adhesion, uh, is, is right, is is very important part. Also, when you go out there, there’s a quite a spectrum of the weather forecast, like information. You have humidity, you have temperatures, and you need to be able to guarantee the, the, yeah, the output in all of that spectrum. So yeah, we’ve done quite a lot on, [00:04:00] uh, on those. And Allen Hall: so from a technology ...
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    32 mins
  • Danish Renewables Push in Australia, Nearthlab Does Defense

    Danish Renewables Push in Australia, Nearthlab Does Defense
    Mar 24 2026
    Denmark’s royal trade mission brings 54 companies to Australia’s renewables market. Plus the UK opens CFD allocation round eight for up to 18 offshore wind farms, and wind tech startups weigh focus against diversification into defense. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter 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 YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com And now your hosts. Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m here with Yolanda Padron, Rosemary Barnes at Matthews Stead, and we start off. On the Danish trip to Australia, 54 Danish companies traveled to Australia alongside King Frederick II and Queen Mary. Uh, over the past week, most work in the renewable energy and green construction businesses that traveled along several signed agreements during the trip. Denmark sees Australia as a growth market, and Rosemary is tied to royalty here. Loosely that Queen Mary is actually from Tasmania, much like Rosemary. [00:01:00] So there is possibly a line to the throne, the Danish throne for Rosemary. Rosemary Barnes: My dad’s from Tasmania. I, I live in Canberra, but I was, the whole five years I was living in Denmark, I kept waiting for Princess. She was Princess Mary at that point, but Princess Mary to get in touch with her phone number, catch up. You know, Australians have moved to Denmark. Never happened. And now I see that they’ve come to Australia. And do you think that Mary reached out and got in touch with me? No, she didn’t. So I continue, continue to be disappointed in, in Queen Mary. Matthew Stead: Maybe she’s waiting for you, Rosie. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, she could be waiting for me to reach out. That’s true. Allen Hall: But I clearly, Australia is a growth market. Denmark sees it. I know there’s been a number of Danish companies in Australia over the last two, three years, or con companies from all over the world have been down to Australia, realizing that the growth of renewables is gonna be big because Australia is targeting 82% renewables by 2030. Uh, and right now it’s about 50% renewables, which is [00:02:00] remarkable by the way, that connection to Denmark. Is only going to grow, especially with the relationship with Queen Mary to the area. What are some of the growth areas that Denmark can walk into in Australia right now, Matthew? Matthew Stead: I mean, obviously the proposed offshore wind is a, is a big thing. So, um, once that gets up and running, obviously the Danish technology will come in there. Um, but, but also, you know, through vest have been here forever. Uh, Siemens, gaa, you know, there’s a strong Danish connection there. Um, so. Yeah, I, I think it’s already, already, already really strong. And, um, obviously having the, the queen, the Danish queen, um, yeah. Ties in with all of that. Allen Hall: Is it a reciprocal agreement that Australians can do work in Denmark? Rosemary Barnes: I don’t think, it’s not any sort of like free trade agreement, is it? It’s just some individual, I dunno how much we’ve, we’ve got to [00:03:00]teach Denmark, although there are some good Australian technologies, like maybe not building wind turbines themselves, but there are some good technologies like here, logic’s Ping, uh, Australian developed the ping part of it anyway. And then also, you know, I think some, some future manufacturing methods, uh, doing some exciting things here in Australia. Also, it’s not that hard to move to Denmark if you, um, like when I moved there, all I needed to get a Visa was a, a job offer. That was a certain, I, I don’t think it, I don’t, I don’t remember exactly if it was the type of job or if it was the salary, but you know, like you’re not gonna get a job offer. Like working part-time at a bar isn’t gonna be enough to get you a, a working visa in Denmark. But certainly. Any engineers, um, you can, if you get a good engineering position offered to you in Denmark, it’s not hard for the company to make that happen. So I don’t know that we need, we don’t, we don’t really need it made that much easier for us [00:04:00] to get over there. Allen Hall: Is it difficult to get a work permit in Australia if you’re from Denmark? Rosemary Barnes: Yes and no. It’s not like I would so love to be hiring my XLM colleagues to come. I know that I’d moved to Australia too. Some of them, it’s, it’s not super duper easy. Um. It’s not impossible. And uh, if people are young enough, it’s a bit easier. But, ...
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    37 mins
  • UK Unlocks 10 GW Offshore Wind, Revolution Wind Powers Up

    UK Unlocks 10 GW Offshore Wind, Revolution Wind Powers Up
    Mar 23 2026
    Allen covers Britain’s radar fix unlocking 10 GW of offshore wind, Revolution Wind delivering first power off Rhode Island, typhoon-proof turbines rising in the Philippines, and an Iowa bill to dim turbine lights at night. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter 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 YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! This is Uptime News Flash. I’m Allen Hall. Here’s the wind energy stories you need to know. For years, offshore wind developers in the United Kingdom ran into an invisible wall. Not weather. Not financing. Radar. Military air defence radars could not distinguish a wind turbine from an aircraft. So certain stretches of British waters were simply off-limits to offshore development. Not anymore. The UK government has purchased specially designed air defence radars built to coexist with offshore wind farms. Installation begins in early 2029. Ten gigawatts of previously blocked offshore wind capacity, now unlocked. That follows the largest single offshore wind procurement in British and European history — 8.4 gigawatts, at a price forty percent lower than new gas. Enough to power twelve million homes. And the UK is not stopping at the water’s edge. The government has also proposed removing planning permission requirements for small onshore turbines up to thirty meters tall, no bigger than an oak tree. Farmers. Schools. Factories. All of them able to generate their own clean power on site. No planning application required. Now, let us cross the Atlantic. Off the coast of Rhode Island, the Revolution Wind project is delivering on a promise that once seemed very much in doubt. On March thirteenth of this year, Revolution Wind delivered its first power to the New England grid. The project is led by Ørsted, the Danish offshore wind leader, alongside Skyborn Renewables. As of March sixteenth, the project stood ninety-three percent complete. Sixty-five turbines, each one eleven megawatts, manufactured by Siemens Gamesa. When fully operational, Revolution Wind will power more than three hundred and fifty thousand homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Let us go somewhere you might not expect to find wind energy news today. The Philippines. Spanish firm Acciona Energia has installed the first turbine for its Kalayaan 2 wind farm in Laguna province, in the Philippines. One hundred and one megawatts. Seventeen turbines, Goldwind GW 165 units, each one six megawatts, with blades spanning one hundred and sixty-five meters. Every one of them designed specifically to survive typhoons. Structural reinforcement. Smart control algorithms. Advanced sensors to protect infrastructure during storms. Commercial operations are scheduled for December of this year. When that happens, roughly two hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide will not enter the atmosphere, every single year. And finally, back home in Iowa, a bill is moving through the statehouse that has nothing to do with megawatts. It is about sleep. Iowa House File 2081 would require wind turbines across the state to use aircraft detection lighting systems. Instead of blinking red lights all night long, the lights would only activate when radar detects an approaching aircraft. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Dean Fisher of Montour, put it simply. His constituents used to enjoy a quiet sunset view. Now they stare at rows of flashing red lights through the night. About twenty-seven percent of Iowa’s turbines already have the sensor-based lights. The rest are being upgraded, year by year. The American Clean Power Association registered undecided. New projects, they said, are already planning to use the sensor lights. But retrofitting existing turbines? That cost goes straight to the customer. No groups registered in opposition. Even the environmental advocates said yes. And now you know the rest of the story. From British radar systems finally making room in the sky for offshore wind, to a court-rescued project delivering first power off Rhode Island, to typhoon-proof turbines rising in the Philippines, to an Iowa lawmaker who just wants his neighbors to sleep — wind energy in 2026 keeps moving forward. And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 23rd of March 2026. Join us for the Uptime Wind Energy podcast for more.
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    2 mins
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