Crews try to take down rest of broken blade from wind turbine incident on Nantucket

The company responsible for a broken wind turbine blade that sent six to seven truckloads of debris into the water off of Nantucket hopes to remove the rest of the broken blade Thursday.

GE Vernova, the company that manufactured the blade said it’s worried high winds from Tropical Storm Debby could send the remaining pieces of the broken blade into the ocean.

Wednesday night Federal and State officials met with the Nantucket Select Board to discuss the incident. The broken turbine is part of the Vineyard Wind Project, which began to break apart in early July, shortly after that residents of Cape Cod and the Islands started finding heaps of fiberglass washed up on the shorelines.

The Chief Sustainability Officer of GE said 7% to 8% of the broken blade is still up and they hope to remove it before the storm moves in, weather permitting. The company said it’s using ultrasound, fiber optic sensors, and drones to make sure other blades aren’t at risk of falling apart.

The Federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is conducting an independent investigation into the incident and has the ability to shut down the project if necessary. Right now, power production is suspended.

“BSEE will not allow the project to move forward until we’re certain the path forward meets the threshold for safe operations,” said Cheri Hunter, Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement.

Hunter said there’s no timeline on when the inspection of the remaining blades will be completed

During Wednesday’s meeting, State Senator Julian Cyr called the broken blade unacceptable and said there was a lack of communication after the failure alarming.

“GE and Vineyard Wind must be accountable to the town of Nantucket and all other communities impacted by this failure the removal of debris must be thorough and absolute the town of Nantucket must be made whole and then some for all expenses incurred in response to the blade failure and its cleanup. Federal Agencies, GE, and Vineyard Wind must have an emergency response plan that considers contingencies for blade failure and its aftermath the current response plan is based on an oil spill response plan that does not meet the challenges we are facing with this blade failure,” said Cyr.

GE said it’s unlikely winds from the tropical storm could cause other blades to break. There are currently 24 wind turbines off the coast of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, the final project calls for 62.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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