January 22, 2025 — Just days before an offshore-wind-averse Trump Administration takes office, the lead safety regulator for offshore wind has lifted its suspension order on the Vineyard Wind project. Construction and power generation can now resume with new safety requirements, including the mandated removal of all blades manufactured in Gaspé, Quebec.
Under the revised construction and operations plan, approved Friday by the Biden Administration, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova must remove blades from “a maximum of 22 wind turbine generators … that were installed prior” to the July blade failure — more than a third of all turbine locations.
“Effective Jan. 17, 2025, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) lifted the December 19, 2024, Suspension Order, based on revisions Vineyard Wind made to its construction and operations plan,” a BSEE spokesperson told The Light on Saturday.
The companies must complete a “study that evaluates the environmental harm and other damage from the blade failure,” the spokesperson continued.
The Light previously reported that the manufacturing defect from the failed blade in July was traced to the Quebec factory, where managers may have falsified quality testing data, leading to suspensions and layoffs. The blade failed due to “insufficient bonding” — an adhesive that holds the composite together.
“After reprocessing of the manufacturing data from the installed blades, additional blades with insufficient bonding were identified, leading to GE Vernova’s decision and BSEE’s direction to remove all installed blades manufactured at the Gaspé, Canada plant,” the new plan states.
Over the past few months, vessels have removed several installed blades from the site, and received shipments of blades from GE Vernova’s other manufacturing plant in Cherbourg, France. The plan, submitted in December but approved this week, notes much of the blade removal activity will happen in 2025.