Gulf Wind Scales Uptower Repairs, Sheds Storm Loads

David King from Gulf Wind Technology returns to discuss serial uptower blade repairs, passive load shedding, and data-driven testing. 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 : David, welcome back to the program.  David King: Yeah, I'm so glad to be here. A lot's happened since the last time I was on, so, uh, this is gonna be great.  Allen Hall : It's been about a year. Mm-hmm. And last year we were at OM&S in Nashville, and you were talking about root fusion, and this is the insert fix uptower for the blade inserts, right? So we're having a lot of blade bolt issues, and the inserts are starting to pull out or become loose, and the blades are moving around. A lot of our operators in the States are trying to solve that problem, and they don't wanna remove the blades and bring anything down tower. They would like to fix it uptower. That's where your solution came in. How's that going?  David King: Yeah, so I mean, it, it's really been a five-year journey for us. I mean, we've been doing this- I remember that, yeah ... for a [00:01:00] very long time. You know, it started like any process does, with a problem statement. Sure. And we've been working through from problem statement, you know, going through process development, going through structural development, going through pilots. Uh, we did a, a huge pilot deployments about three years ago, where those were being monitored. Um, we're now in a position where we're in serial deployment, and that's what's really exciting. You know, we're doing about 200 blades a year, uh, of, of serial deployment. We've, we've done that now, uh, we're going into our second year of that. Nice. So we're extremely excited by that. That comes with its own sets of challenges as you scale up. How do you maintain quality? We even touched a little bit on a few of these things last year. Um, but yeah, we're really excited to be doing that. Uh, we're trying to keep it, you know, again, process-driven. How do you simplify a process that allows you to scale up appropriately, train people appropriately? A- a- and that's what we're really excited about this year, is being able to bring this, uh, so that we're not, um, you know, basically supply constrained, 'cause there is a lot of demand for this, and still able to maintain a very high level of, of quality as we, [00:02:00] we scale up. Allen Hall : Yeah, and that's the key to all sort of repairs in the wind industry. You like to do it once and be done with the life of the turbine. Now, so you're going uptower. You're drilling some holes up along the blade, injecting those with a resin system, curing it, basically reinforcing what is already there That all makes sense to me. Engineering-wise, that makes sense to me. But a- again, it goes back to the technicians and the training and the deployment of it. Are you starting to train technicians, bring them in, show them how to use the, use the machines and, and get them out in the field so they are ready to go? It, it... 'Cause it seems like you're at that threshold now. David King: No, absolutely. So we, we believe in people first, right? Yeah. People at the end of the day make things happen. And so, you know, the best ways to do that is give people the right tools to be successful, and where that comes from is training. That's a huge part of it. We have a, a certified training program that we run. Uh, it started out as an internal program we were running. It basically has five levels to it. Uh, we've now extended that to, uh, enabling, uh, you know, basically [00:03:00] preferred partners to be able to take part in that training, uh, to be able to utilize modular kits, pumps and equipment, to be able to, you know, go out and meet that demand that's out there, but do so in a way that's, uh, controlled. Yeah. And so really that comes back to that certified training program. And really, you know, level one is about a lot of your basic safety, procedural base type, uh, you know, making sure people are competent, uh, they're not gonna get themselves hurt. Right. They've got the right personality traits about focus, uh, you know, detail focus and things like that. Yeah. Uh, level two to that program is, is really about, um, basically getting people to a stage in which they can be a, uh, team member. Uh, they're able to be on a team and contribute to that team in an effective manner, be in the field.  Allen Hall : That's really important. A lot of-  David King: Absolutely ...  Allen Hall : companies miss that aspect of being a team member instead of an individual. Yeah, you have to work with other people. Yeah. It's, it's critical.  David King: It's massively important. Personalities clash. You've got to be able to work through that sort of thing. And so that level one to level two is really kind of taking your green horn hat off and putting, "Okay, I, I, I can be on this team and I'm, I'm a, a contributing [00:04:00] member." And then at level three, that's your team leads. Those are people that are leading teams. They're leaders. They're up and coming. They've got a career path, career trajectory. Level four is our mentors. That's the people that are going out there and that are basically qualified to now actually mentor other people in the field. Allen Hall : Yeah.  David King: And then your level five is train the trainer. How do you grow more trainers so that you're not constrained on that training factor? And that, that's kind of how we, we typically run training.  Allen Hall : Uh, and Gulf Wind has the ability to do that. I mean, I've been to your facilities, they're impressive, and that's one of the limitations for a lot of companies. They don't have the facilities to train people, and they don't have the resources you do. That opens up a lot of opportunities. Obviously, you're in the composite repair business. You have crews out fixing wind turbine blades. Some of the more complex ones is what I hear. I mean, I hear it secondarily, but I assume that's what's happening. What are, are the areas that you get called in on to do composite repairs?  David King: We, we really do anything that stops somebody else. Okay. So we wanna be there when there's a problem where you're like, "I don't know where to go next. Uh, this is a big [00:05:00] problem. We're unsure. Maybe there's a new technology at play. Maybe it's, uh, a carbon spar cap. Maybe it's something, uh..." You know, obviously the root stuff that's very complicated. Sure. And, uh, it's just gonna require a little bit more engineering. It's gonna require a little bit more rigor, and that- that's where we say, look, we, we can, whether it means testing something, verifying something, training somebody on a process, developing a process- Yeah or just doing something complicated, that's where we excel.  Allen Hall : Well, that- that's what I hear from the road is, uh, Gulf Winds here and I think, "Uh-oh. You must have a really serious problem because you're calling in the experts to do the, the difficult things." Carbon pultrusions, carbon fabric in, in blades today is such a massive problem because it's not, it's not fiberglass. It's just a lot more to deal with, and some of the loading issues we're finding and, boy, it's just all over the place. They need Gulf Winds Technology to, to come on site to give them a hand. Now, a- as part of the growth of the business, and you guys have been growing. Every year I, I see they're just... it's just a little bit bigger, a little more [00:06:00] people. I walked on LinkedIn and hiring some engineers and some people to work over the summertime. That's all great. What's the structure look like now? How are you trying to organize yourself as a business?  David King: Yeah, so we really break down into three different structures. We have our service division, and that's, um, putting people out there to solve problems in the field. As simple as it gets, right? It's like you've got a problem, we've got the right people with the right solutions, and they're gonna go deliver, uh, a result. Um, and then we've got an engineering division. That's about developing problems. It also has a lot to do with IP. You know, things like root fusion, that's a pat- protected technology. Sure. All of our technology, we do a lot of investments in, in, you know, patent protection and IP work, and so that sits inside that engineering division. Uh, it's how we, we have the smarts of the company kinda sat in there. Uh, it also is what allows us to really get into some of these, uh, kinda juicy problem statements that are a little bit prickly maybe. Uh, and we love getting into those and solving them. Yeah. And then the third and final thing is the composite side of things, and that's the, the manufacturing. That's that 30,000 square [00:07:00] foot composite manufacturing facility where we wanna be the best in vacuum infusion. We wanna be the best in prepreg, the best in pultrusions, complex assemblies, and be trying to de- uh, just deliver really high-quality composites to the industry. Allen Hall : Yeah, and you have the equipment to do a lot of testing. And I think a, a lot of operators don't realize what you have And the knowledge that's sitting there, when I run into operators across the country that have complicated issues, particularly if they have carbon, I mean, oh my gosh, you,...