Company says manufacturing problem was behind wind turbine blade breaking off Nantucket Island
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts — The manufacturer of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart and washed up on the beach near Nantucket Island says a manufacturing error was the cause.
GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said on an earnings call Wednesday that insufficient bonding at one of its Canadian plants caused a blade to fall apart and that there was no evidence of a design flaw. As a result, the company will re-inspect all 150 blades made at the plant.
“To identify anomalies, we’re going to do it on every sheet. A careful, thorough process,” he told the call. “We’re not going to talk about the timeline today. We have work to do. But I’m confident we can do this.”
Pieces of the blade, which is more than 100 meters (109 yards) long, began falling into the ocean near the Vineyard Wind project on July 13, and crews in boats and on beaches have since been collecting truckloads of debris. The company said the debris consists of non-toxic fiberglass fragments and that all of the pieces that have washed ashore are pieces one square foot or smaller.
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said last week that operations at Vineyard Wind have been suspended until it can determine whether the “blade failure” affects other turbine blades in development.
“While GE Vernova continues to investigate the root cause of the blade damage, Vineyard Wind 1 remains focused on coordinating with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, assisting with debris recovery, and prioritizing the safety of its personnel, local communities and the environment,” Craig Gilvarg, a company spokesman, said in a statement.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said no personnel or third parties were near the turbine when the damage occurred. In a statement, it said the blade manufacturer and installation contractor GE “will now conduct an analysis into the root cause of the incident.”
Development huge wind turbines began supplying electricity to the grid last winter. It said it would deploy trained personnel to help collect debris in the coming days