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Vineyard Wind is given the OK to move forward after blade failure in July
After review, some blades will be removed, and others will be reinforced.
After months of delay, Vineyard Wind has announced it was given the OK to remove a damaged blade and complete its wind turbine project 15 miles south of Nantucket.
In July, a GE Genova-manufactured wind turbine blade broke off, falling into the ocean and littering nearby beaches with floating debris and sharp fiberglass, which angered residents.
The failure occurred at Vineyard Wind’s offshore wind farm, which began delivering energy from five of its planned 63 wind turbines in February.
At the end of July, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement ordered Vinyard Wind to cease power production until it could be determined that the blade failure did not affect any other turbines.
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The company said the final task of removing the damaged blade from the rotor hub will occur in the coming weeks. Other tasks, such as removing the hanging portion of the blade and clearing debris from the platform and seabed, have already been completed or are expected to be done this week.
GE Vernova said it conducted extensive quality checks, which included reviewing over 8,300 ultrasound images per blade and performing physical inspections using drones. As a result, the company plans to remove an unspecified number of blades from the Vineyard Wind farm while reinforcing other blades as needed to ensure the project’s safety and operational readiness.
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At a GE Vernova earnings call Wednesday morning, CEO Scott Strazik said that a “low single-digit proportion” of the blades manufactured had a manufacturing deviation similar to the failed one at Vineyard Wind.
“In those cases, we’re taking action on those blades,” he said. “Now (we’re) getting to the point of shifting back to execution out at sea.”
Strazik also confirmed on the call that the preliminary investigation proved correct. A manufacturing deviation was found at one of its factories in Canada due to “insufficient bonding” that the quality assurance program should have identified.
Following authorization by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in August, the company resumed installing eight new towers and nacelles. On Tuesday, the company said it was approved to return to installing new blades on turbines “once stringent safety and operational conditions are met.”
Operations and power production will resume only after “requisite approvals are granted,” GE Vernova said.
In September, GE Vernova updated the town of Nantucket on the environmental assessment, including findings on the chemical composition of the blade debris and ongoing efforts to sample the water column, sediment, and shellfish.
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The company says work has begun, and results will be shared in the coming weeks.
“The safety of our team, of the surrounding communities, and of the local environment has always been at the forefront of everything we do,” Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller said in a statement. “We are confident that the quality and safety assessments that have been undertaken over the last three months will make this a better, stronger, and safer project going forward.”
Upon completion, Vineyard Wind is expected to generate electricity for the equivalent of about 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts, create about 3,600 full-time jobs, and save customers about $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation.
Vineyard Wind is the only offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts. Other developers backed out of their contracts, citing high costs. However, the state is trying to procure up to 3,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy through three bids submitted this year.
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