Drone Inspection Certification, BladeRobots Goes Solo, U.S. Energy Trends

The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast

This week we explore drone inspection certification stirring up Europe and the spin-off of Bladerobots from Vestas. Plus U.S. vs. Australian power trends, wind farms' community impact, and the potential of AI. And, could single blade turbines solve lightning issues? 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! Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen Hall: Rosemary, I don't know if you have pancakes down in Australia, but in America, it is a big deal. And do you have Eggo's? Do you know what an Eggo is? An Eggo waffle or an Eggo pancake? Is that a thing? Go to the grocery store or the market, whatever you call it in Australia, and you get a frozen waffle or frozen pancake? Is that a thing? Rosemary Barnes: Why would you do that? What? Pancake batter takes about five seconds to throw together from stuff that you've definitely got in your pantry and fridge. Allen Hall: That's too long, Rosemary. You have not visited Rosemary Barnes: America lately. I'm gonna guess it's full of high fructose corn syrup and other such ridiculousness. Allen Hall: No. The high fructose corn syrup is poured on it in the form of syrup. See. Eggo is a big brand name in the United States for making frozen waffles. Let go of my eggo. Commercials that have been around forever and also pancakes, but for national pancake day, and this is brilliant, this is a brilliant piece of marketing, Eggo built a pancake shaped house in Tennessee to rent out for national pancake day. The Eggo House of Pancakes is decorated like a stack of pancakes down to a butter chimney. It has pancake beds, bean bags, syrup fountains, and is stocked with frozen Eggo pancakes. Now, this one single house is in Gatlinburg Tennessee, which is the pancake capital of the South, and you can book a three night stay there in March. And I'm looking into this. I'm seriously looking into this. It's part of Eggo's National Pancake Day. How about that, Rosemary? Rosemary Barnes: Is it like Shrove, is it Shrove Tuesday? Is that? Joel Saxum: No, that's what the high fructose corn syrup's for. Allen Hall: You should see this thing. It's actually quite impressive. They did a good job with it. It's like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. You can't miss this thing. Look at Rosemary, I think she got red. Why are you turning red? Philip Totaro: I'm with her. I don't know. I don't get it. Allen Hall: It's like the Mr. Peanutmobile. It's the same sort of thing. Joel, we gotta come up with something like this for StrikeTape. Joel Saxum: We can do that. I can do that. Rosemary Barnes: They obviously do have great branding because, like pancakes cost about 20 cents worth of ingredients. There's like nothing to them. And they've managed to sell them pre made in a box. That's bizarre to me. Allen Hall: They are delicious. Joel Saxum: USA . Rosemary Barnes: Can't get on board. Sorry. No culture clash. Joel Saxum: The second chin, that's Eggo waffles. Rosemary Barnes: Now there's a commercial. Joel Saxum: I work in the wind industry. You know how I make sure the wind doesn't blow me away every morning? I eat Eggo waffles. Allen Hall: U. S. electricity generation dipped by roughly 1 percent in 2023 from its record high in 2022. So from roughly 2007 to 2023, generation was only up about 2. 3%, which seems odd based on population growth and things that are happening in the United States. So it's this report that we're seeing pop around different places about el...