US Renewable Approvals, EDF French Nuclear

The Uptime hosts examine Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s federal oversight mandate, the administration’s plan to replace Idaho’s cancelled Lava Ridge Wind Farm with six nuclear reactors, and critique a recent wind conference in Australia. The discussion also covers French utility EDF’s plan to sell 50% of its North American wind portfolio to raise 2 billion euros for nuclear upgrades in France. Sign up for the next SkySpecs webinar! Register for  UK Offshore Wind Supply Chain Spotlight 2025!

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!

Allen Hall: [00:00:00] Mark your calendars December 11th at the Royal Highland Center in Edinburgh, because you’ll want to be at the UK offshore wind supply chain Spotlight 2025. This isn’t just another conference. It’s where the UK’s offshore wind supply chain comes together. Co-hosted by ORE Catapult and the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership.

Spotlight 2025 is where developers connect with suppliers and where the next breakthrough in offshore wind technology gets its moment to shine. So whether you’re looking to forge new partnerships, secure critical investments, or simply stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving sector, you’ll need to register for this event.

Remember December 11th in Edinburg for Spotlight 2025. Just Google. Edinburgh Supply Chain Spotlight 2025. You can register today.

You’re listening to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, brought to you by bill turbines.com. Learn train and be a part of the Clean Energy Revolution. [00:01:00] Visit build turbines.com today. Now here’s your hosts, Alan Hall, Joel Saxon, Phil Tartaro, and Rosemary Barnes. 

Allen Hall: Well, greetings from Charlotte, North Carolina to the Queen City.

I’m Alan Hall and I’m here with Phil Tartaro from the Golden State of California. And Joel Saxon is at an undisclosed location in a secure bunker, so that’s not gonna leak out where he is. And Rosemary is enjoying the winter months in beautiful Australia. And we have some interesting topics this week, but I wanna lead off with Rosemary.

Went to another WIN conference, WIN plus conference in Australia. Rosemary. 

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, actually I, I feel petty, um, dissing this conference now because this is the one that Alan, you and I did a whole episode on how bad this conference was last year and, um. That’s what caused us to feel like we needed to organize our own wind energy conference.

Uh, that covered some technical topics, but you’re walking around the conference, like, why is there so much hydrogen stuff at a wind energy conference? And I’m like, okay, well maybe that’s like what they perceive that, you know, most of the [00:02:00] new projects in Australia, all the big ones say that they’re associated with hydrogen.

So maybe that’s it. And then I started seeing a lot of, um, carbon capture things and, you know, like eels and all sorts of, all sorts of things related to. CO2. Um, so that confused me. Um, and then I saw that it was also a carbon capture conference too. So yeah, the exhibition was, was not, not too bad. I had definitely had lots of good conversations with people.

Um, some interesting things like, um, the drone, uh, yeah, drone inspections, a few new capabilities coming up. There were a couple of people with good drones, um, that can. Test the resistance of an LPS and say that they can do a whole turbine in an hour and a half. So, um, that’s, that’s pretty good. There was also some cool NDT, uh, non-destructive testing stuff and a really small portable ultrasound machine, and they wouldn’t give me a price, but it seemed like maybe, um, a wind farm could own one and use it to [00:03:00] sometimes check repairs.

I know I’ve heard some operators in Australia have been saying how. Um, they are a bit confused about whether their repairs are good or not because they do see the same blades coming in for repair over and over again. And I haven’t actually, um, seen, seen the data to know is this the exact same location or is it somewhere else?

But you know, if you’re having a problem like that, then in investing in a small ultrasound machine and the expertise to use it. ’cause it’s definitely not something where just any random off the street can, can interpret. The results. But this particular machine, and I haven’t looked into it, I just had the chat at the booth yesterday.

They say that it can work on quite curved surfaces, which, um, usually it, it will struggle. So if that’s true then that could be quite handy. But yeah. Um, I didn’t go to any of the presentations ’cause I was so, I dunno, I’m gonna say disgusted. I was actually disgusted by it last year. Not just like disappointed or not interested.

It was like a stronger emotion than that because it’s just like, you know, they get all these people here. Kind of promise that you’re gonna learn [00:04:00]something about, about wind energy. But instead they just put people on stage who, uh, either one, they work for a company who has sponsored the event. If you sponsor the event, then it comes with a certain number of speaker slots attached to it.

Um, or two that they, you just explicitly pay for the presentation and I can’t remember, but I think it’s around about 10,000 US dollars. So this year I saw just a few of the, there’s some smaller stages in the exhibition area. Um, I saw some like weird ones on hydrogen where they’re still talking like it’s, I don’t know, 2018 and no one’s really sure what hydrogen can or can’t do.

What else? Oh yeah. And the other thing, um, I did pass this hilarious, um. Hilarious little scene where they had a backdrop that said Women in net zero future, um, like written on the background, not like projected on there, written there. And then, um, you know, panel after panel was, uh, yeah, full of, full of men.

This particular photo took is extra funny ’cause it just looks like five versions of the exact same guy. It’s, it’s like, you know, [00:05:00] say same age, same haircut, same race. It is just like, is this just, yeah. So that is a handy tip for organizers that if you’re gonna, you know, write women on your background, maybe think about how many women that you have speaking worth going.

Um, and uh, again, it, you know, reignites. My, uh, passion for putting together an event where you actually, you know, talk about the technical issues and, um, you know, present information that people can learn from. Um, yeah. You know, um, companies with products can learn about what the problems that operators are facing and operators can learn about solutions that exist.

So that’s, um, yeah, we we’re working at the moment on that for next conference. I think that’s, uh, also the goal of what’s, um, we’ve got Wind Summit coming up in Houston in a few months, so there are good events out there. 

Allen Hall: Don’t let blade damage catch you off guard. OGs, ping sensors detect issues before they become expensive, time consuming problems.[00:06:00]

From ice buildup and lightning strikes to pitch misalignment in internal blade cracks. OGs Ping has you covered The cutting edge sensors are easy to install, giving you the power to stop damage before it’s too late. Visit og ping.com and take control of your turbine’s health today. Uh, the White House has issued a new order requiring interior Secretary Doug Bergham to personally approve all wind and solar energy projects on federal lands and waters.

And. Uh, this enhanced oversight covers everything from leases to right of ways to construction plans and operational approvals across literally millions of acres of federal property. And the interior Department is saying that it aims to end preferential treatment for what it calls unreliable subsidy, dependent wind and solar energy.

And my first thought of this is like, all right, fine. Do it. Let’s see how long this lasts, [00:07:00] because I don’t think the administration can produce the amount of energy that it needs to produce in the short amount of time they’re gonna be around. Without wind and solar, they’re gonna have to let some of these projects through, or there’s going to be big time power constraints.

Right. Phil? 

Phil Totaro: The bigger issue is offshore as, as pertains the Department of the Interior for onshore wind. I mean certainly solar, but for onshore wind. We only have out of the 55 gigawatts or so that’s either, um, already been approved for construction and has started construction. Uh, is in the interconnection queue or hasn’t been fully approved and permitted yet?

Um, I think it’s like less than six gigawatts that’s even on or touching any kind of federal land or requiring any kind of federal permit, which would fall under this jurisdiction. So, and most, like I said, most of the stuff’s already been approved, so there’s not much that it’s going to impact onshore wind.

Solar will be [00:08:00] more. Modestly impacted, um, just because for utility scale projects, they sometimes use federal land. Um, but for the most part, we, we don’t really get out there and, and touch that, where this has obviously the, the biggest implication is what we’ve already seen since January, which is offshore wind.

Um, but that’s not really a big. Change. Although what’s interesting to me is we’ll see, you know, with this whole push for accountability, um, you know, we’ll see if they’re willing to stand behind their, uh, you know, approvals and assessments the same way they’re challenging ones issued by previous administrations.

Joel Saxum: I mean, ’cause at the end of the day, there’s not, there isn’t much for wind on federal land. Anyways, I’m speaking just for wind, right. On, on onshore and not much for solar either. Now we know that there’s some good wind resource and some good solar resource on federal lands, but they just haven’t been tapped yet.

It’s mostly all on private land, and I think part of that reason is as well, federal lands at a large scale in the [00:09:00] United States are also where there’s no population. 

Phil Totaro: Yeah. And no transmission. So what, what are we worried about? What’s the point? Yeah, there’s no, 

Allen Hall: the one place where there was a wind farm that got shut down by the current administration was in Idaho, right?

So the Lava Ridge Wind Farm, which would’ve been in Southern. Idaho got shut down in early January, and this has led to some interesting developments because the administration wants to put nuclear on the same site, so saw tooth energy and development plans to build. 462 megawatt nuclear power plants total.

So it would be actually 6 77 megawatt new scale plants is what they’re talking about. New scale is a South Korean company and it would be, I guess they call those small modular reactors, 77 megawatts. Uh, and the goal is here is where there would’ve been a wind farm [00:10:00] is to put in these nuclear reactors Now.

They also are claiming that they’re gonna shorten the timeline down from like five years to two because they’re gonna run out of time, right? So the administrations are gonna run outta time. So they gotta get these projects in fast. But the South Koreans and New Scale is saying, we don’t know much about this.

We haven’t committed to this project at all. I’m just curious how this is gonna work out if, if I’m a neighbor to, uh, these wind farms and there are wind farms around this area, right? Joel? In southern Idaho, there are quite a 

Joel Saxum: few. There’s that, there’s a horseshoe. If you look at like the US wind turbine database, they’ll see this kind of horseshoe in the southern part of, and it’s around the mountain ranges where the wind flows through the valley.

Allen Hall: Yeah, that, that would make a lot of sense. Right. So instead of me having a wind farm there, there now would have six modular reactors in their backyard. I’m wondering what you think the politics of that would be locally would, that would be accepted as like, Hey, let’s do this nuclear reactor. Let’s put six of ’em down instead of these wind farms.

[00:11:00] Think that’s gonna play well in Idaho. 

Phil Totaro: If you look at what the objections were to the leverage wind farm that LS power was proposing, they centered around the fact that it was going to, uh, disrupt, uh, a lot of the relics there from, um, some of the internment camps. Um, and, you know, some of the, the history preservation that, that, you know, goes on in that area.

So. The, the reality is I can’t imagine how they’re not gonna have the same objections. Plus, are people there who are already kind of in this NIMBY mood, really gonna be in the mood for having a, a nuclear plant nearby as opposed to something that doesn’t radiate well, that’s, that, that, that’s 

Joel Saxum: a key point too.

You live in, uh, Idaho. You live in that corner of the world, Wyoming, Idaho, Northern Utah, Eastern Washington, Oregon, you’re there because you love the outdoors for the most part, right? Like people, those people love their [00:12:00] natural resources to cool This reactor, you’re on the Snake River. The Snake River is one of the, you’re on, that’s one of the most storied fishing rivers in the all of the American West.

Snake River runs into the Tetons. Like it is absolutely stunning that that whole river basin is so. I got to think that if you think you’re gonna speed this up from five years to two years, that means you’re gonna circumvent all kinds of permitting and, you know, public feedback issues and stuff. Like it’s, you’re, you’re nuts if you think you’re gonna do that.

Allen Hall: Didn’t Evil Knievel jump, snake River? Wasn’t that the river that he hopped over? 

Phil Totaro: I think he hit the Grand Canyon. That’s a Colorado River. He did the Grand Canyon for sure, but I thought he also did the Rio Grande. I don’t remember if he did the Stink River. 

Allen Hall: Well, if E Knievel could do it then uh, evidently the current administration could do something just as bold.

Right. We’ll see. I think there’s a lot of work to do there as wind energy professionals staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it difficult. That’s why the Uptime [00:13:00] podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future.

Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit ps wind.com today. French utility. EDF is considering bringing in capital to its North American and Brazilian and renewable businesses. Uh uh, obviously there’s uh, a need for cash flow with EDF and they’re thinking they may sell up to 50% of those businesses, and it comes at a time when EDF has some offshore losses, but they’re also seeking some fundraising to.

Clean up some nuclear projects that are happening in France. There’s a lot of aging nuclear reactors that need to be upgraded, and EDF would be the one to go do that. So they’re trying to raise some cash that that opens up the possibility of some new players coming into the [00:14:00] Brazilian market and the American market.

Who are likely buyers into EDF? 

Phil Totaro: Well, they, they’ve actually got, uh, in North America alone, uh, between the US and Canada, about six gigawatts just in wind. Four gigawatts of it is already, you know, co-owned by a number of different funds, including, um, Masar, the Canadian Pension Plan, investment Board, and Enbridge, um, Alliant Energy, uh, PGGM, infrastructure Fund, et cetera.

Um, Allianz, uh, BlackRock. So the, the point here is that out of what they, they currently own outright, um, it’s about two gigawatts of wind. Um, they’ve got, you know, average PPA on, on that. Uh, capacity is about $63, uh, a megawatt hour, although some of that’s on a merchant market, and it looks like the total net [00:15:00] profit to plan to end of asset life per megawatt for that two gigawatts worth of capacity is about $1.9 million.

So that’s really good. That beats the market average. Um, and so the, what they have as far as their existing portfolio is, is, I’d say fairly attractive. They’re asking, uh, or seeking something like 2 billion euros, which I think is about 2.2 billion us, um, at this point. So, you know, uh, I think they’ll, they shouldn’t be at a loss to find buyers for this, because keep in mind as well, most of their project capacity, um, is also old enough to be able to still claim production tax credits.

Um, so. Uh, it’s gonna throw repowering into question for some of these assets that come up between 2027 and 2029, but, um, that’ll, that’ll probably get dealt with in the future. 

Joel Saxum: Do you think that there’s a play here to say like, Hey, we own this 50% or x percent with this person, this person this. Is there a partial [00:16:00]sale to a bunch of people?

Is there just like kind of piecemeal like, oh, we’re 50% with you. Why don’t you take the whole thing and we’ll still maintain it for you? Why don’t you take the whole one of this one? Why don’t you take the whole, would they do that or they 

Phil Totaro: wanna looking to sell it in bulk? I think they would probably. I, I don’t think it necessarily matters.

Joel. That’s a good question though. Um. Because they’ve already got, you know, projects where they’re, they’ve already been diluted, um, by other owners coming in. But, uh, my impression is that they wouldn’t necessarily sell a hundred percent of the projects where they have some stake, um, just because of various, you know, reasons they wanna maintain ties with.

You know, this market, um, particularly in the US and you know, where they’ve got, you know, more than four gigawatts installed here, it’s 1.5 up in Canada and uh, I think it’s about 600 or so megawatts down Brazil. So, you know, they, they wanna be able to maintain what they have, um, but they still want to be able to, [00:17:00] um, you know, bring in additional.

Um, capital providers or, or co-owners to some of the capacity they haven’t already sold. Um, it’s also likely that some of the existing owners may opt out and, you know, wanna sell off a, a chunk of what they, they own. So there’s opportunities for further dilution, um, in that sense as well. But, uh, you know, they’ve, they’ve got plenty to left to sell to be able to, you know, get the 2 billion euros that they wanna get so they can go fund whatever they feel like funding in, in Europe.

That’s gonna do it for this 

Allen Hall: week’s Uptime Wind Energy podcast. Thanks for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you here same time. Same channel for the Uptime Win Energy Podcast next [00:18:00] week.