NANTUCKET, Mass — Recovery efforts to clean debris on the ocean floor from a broken turbine blade are underway near Nantucket.
It was back in July that the big blade broke off a Vineyard Wind turbine.
It led to a halt in operations and an initial clean-up that included closing beaches to swimmers during their peak tourist season.
Crews removed truckload after truckload of debris and fiberglass that washed up on beaches after the blade broke.
The US Coast Guard said at the time, they saw a piece of debris about 300 feet long, as big as a football field.
The manufacturer GE Vernova blamed the break on poor bonding and quality control at a factory in Quebec.
The Town of Nantucket now says GE Vernova has started recovery efforts of the blade debris near the Vineyard Wind turbine as of Sunday afternoon.
They said two vessels will be out on the seafloor, one to retrieve the larger pieces of debris and another for any smaller fragments that may break off during that process.
The Boston Globe reports eleven turbines were running in the wind farm about 15 miles south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard before the failure.
The Globe said that wind farm is expected to have 62 skyscraper-sized turbine towers when it’s finished.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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