On January 23, 2024, and as part of POWERGEN2024 energy industry mega event held in New Orleans, Louisiana, we had the pleasure of attending a panel discussion focusing on wind turbine foundations that are either:

• Alternatives to the standard gravity-based (spread) foundations, or

• Improvements on the standard gravity-based foundations, alternatively described as “enhanced gravity foundations.”

The session was part of a well-attended and perfectly executed track titled “O&M and EPC Considerations for Utility-Scale Solar and Wind.“ Panelists represented perspectives from different industry stakeholders: Owners/Developers, EPCs, and Independent Engineering/Certification agencies. The session started with a two-minute presentation from each panelist describing an alternate foundation system or how such systems could be viewed from their side of the industry. The moderator then probed the panelists with questions exploring the opportunities and challenges of such systems and ended the session by opening the floor to questions and discussions from the audience.

Today, with the ever-increasing size of onshore wind turbines, it is obvious that there needs to be better alternatives to the industry-standard gravity-based foundation: better in terms of sustainability, reliability, efficiency and the bottom line (economics). This session served to heighten awareness of this need and provided motivation to pursue innovation to meet it.