RWE Goes Small, Volkswagen Flies Kites, Scotland Goes Deep, Thread Goes Local, Ridgeway Rockbags

Volkswagen just invested in EnerKite's airborne wind turbines. How practical are they? Allen, Rosemary and Joel discuss the possibilities. RWE just bet on  small wind and Ryse Energy, with about 400 installations. What would make small wind more viable? Hint: certification would help. Can the right software cut out the middleman in drone inspections? North Dakota's Thread is on it. Scotland's SSE has installed the world's deepest offshore wind turbine. The 2,000 ton turbine sits in 58 meters of water. Meanwhile, DNV has deemed Entrion's 100-meter FRP monopile feasible. How do these developments change the floating vs. fixed bottom argument? Joel explains how rock bags work and why scour protection is important. Our Wind Farm of the Week has 377 GE turbines in 4 locations. Listen to find out why it's a big deal! Visit Pardalote Consulting at https://www.pardaloteconsulting.com Wind Power Lab - https://windpowerlab.com Weather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.com Intelstor - https://www.intelstor.com 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 162 Allen Hall: We have a packed show for you this week. To start off, we talked about Volkswagen connecting with EnerKite and Rosemary has done a bunch of research on these kite projects that generate power and what it means and is it a good idea. And then we look into small wind power with Ryse Energy, which has been supported by RWE. Joel Saxum: We're gonna talk to about our friends in PES Wind Magazine. This month or this quarter I should say over from North Dakota Thread and what their software solution and, and drone enterprise looks like.  Rosemary Barnes: And then we're gonna head offshore. Scotland is installing the world's deepest fixed bottom offshore wind turbine. At, I think it was 68 meters. And there's also a hundred meter monopile from Entrion that they're proposing. And we delve into a little bit about floating offshore as well, and about how, how that's going to compete with fixed bottom in the long term.  Allen Hall: And then our wind farm of the week is Western Spirit Wind in New Mexico, so stay tuned for it. I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech, and I'm here with my good friend from Wind Power Lab, Joel Saxum. And Australian renewables Rosemary Barnes, and this is the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. Allen Hall: Rosemary, I know you have talked about the flying kite power generation systems and Volkswagen must have seen your videos. So Volkswagen Group charging in EnerKite have submitted a proposal to the federally funded. Techno high project which involves using airborne wind turbines to generate electricity for mobile charging points and anarchy will provide flying wind turbines, which the company claims could yield twice the annual energy compared to ground lodge turbines. The the system uses wind catching kite to pull a rope producing large forces that are converted into electricity. And the project, it's called ric Mobile Charging infras. And it will run through the end of 2024. EnerKite is led by former World Champion in speak, hiding Christian Gephart, and they're working on the first product stage for the E K 200, which is the model of this kite. And Rosemary, you had done a bunch of research on this on your site. Does this make sense to use Kite to power up mobile? Car charged ports.  Rosemary Barnes: Maybe. Maybe it does. It's interesting to see EnerKite with this agreement, cuz they're, they're not the front runners. I mean, they're one of the, one of the front runners I guess.