Why Are Australian Wind Farms Losing Money?

The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast

In this episode, Allen, Joel, Phil and Rosemary analyze why 38% of Australian wind farms are struggling with profitability despite stable PPAs. They explore how solar saturation, coal plant inflexibility, and maintenance contract structures impact returns. Plus, the team examines BlueFloat Energy's withdrawal from New Zealand and what recent auction results in Maine reveal about the broader challenges facing floating offshore wind development. 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.comWind Energy O&M Australia Conference - https://www.windaustralia.com Allen Hall: It is almost fall. I guess it is fall. Joel Saxum: It's almost November. Allen Hall: I was just outside today. It was like 70 degrees outside. It felt like the end of summer, not the beginning of fall. But we're almost in winter. We got another month or two before we hit the official start of winter, which means all the bears up in my area are starting to thinking about hibernating. But in the meantime, they're usually pretty hungry, trying to fatten up before the winter really hits. And This causes a lot of problems if you're around bears, and a lady in Montana had a problem where she went out to work in her pickup truck early in the morning and realized that it had been all torn apart by a black bear, of all things, which is the thing that I worry about the most around here. At this time of year, when you're bringing in things from the house, and a bear shows up and says, Oh, there's groceries in the car, hops in, and then panics, which is what happened to this lady. The bear panics and just destroys the vehicle. And this has happened very close to us, actually. And not that long ago, it was this summer, where bears were walking in our driveway, walked right by my wife, she didn't even know it was there. So it's serious that don't leave your car doors open. That's the one thing I remember in the fall. Don't leave your car doors open for any length of time. Otherwise, when you go back, you may have befriended a bear. Philip Totaro: Allen, I've seen videos where they're opening car doors. So don't even think about, you can close the door and they're still gonna get in. So I don't know, man. They're getting sophisticated out there. Joel Saxum: I've got another tip for you from my childhood. You always put your trash out in the morning. Before your kids go to school, before you go to work, put your trash out in the morning on the street. Because if you put your trash out outside of your garage the night before, you're gonna end up with trash all over the ground and the garbage man won't pick it up and you, i. e. me, as a young child, would have to go pick up all of our trash multiple times. So that's the hot tip. Allen Hall: It's either the bears, the raccoons, or the wildcats. Those are the ones you really have to watch out for. Get a cat down in your neighborhood because it can do a lot of damage. Joel Saxum: You would think that Allen lived in like Northwest territories or something and not in Massachusetts. Allen Hall: I can walk out my back door and pet deer right now. That's how close they're sitting next to the house. Cause it's hunting season also where I am and all the deer join into town. They're hanging up. Yeah, there's, they're not stupid. Joel, he's in the Berkshires. This is the wilderness. This is about as wilderness as you can get in Massachusetts.