Saving Seafood

New study looks to how wind projects will change ocean

August 27, 2024 — Plans to build hundreds or even thousands of offshore wind turbines off the U.S. East Coast “will be the biggest change to the sea floor in the area since the last Ice Age ended about 14,000 years ago,” according to scientists.

Around 20 offshore wind lease areas are now planned for mainly soft bottom of sand or mud, with scattered hard substrate of gravel, cobble and rock, according to their recently published study.

As wind turbine arrays are built, they will add massive steel towers, electric power cables, and millions of tons of rock to protect the new industrial infrastructure.

“Wind farms will add a lot of hard structures to these areas, potentially altering the habitat and species that inhabit these areas, which will likely affect fisheries,” wrote the research team led by Kevin Stokesbury, dean of the School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

In its natural state, “the sand will move around but it doesn’t change the community” of marine life living there, said Stokesbury. Off the Mid-Atlantic coast particularly, the wave-swept sand bottom “is like the Great Plains before development,” he said.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Wind power construction noise doesn’t destroy whale habitat, feds find

August 27, 2024 — The federal government issued a new “biological opinion” on the offshore wind power project off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, finding that pile-driving noise associated with Vineyard Wind 1 is likely to adversely affect, but not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of whales, fish or sea turtles listed under the Endangered Species Act.

“It will have no effect on any designated critical habitat,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” The agency said that with mitigation measures, “all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”

NOAA Fisheries said Friday it was issuing its new opinion to the “federal action agencies” including Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which approved the Vineyard Wind 1 Project in 2021 and oversees offshore wind power development in federal lease areas.

Read the full story at WBUR

Fishermen stage floating protest at Vineyard Wind site

August 27, 2024 — As concerns mount over the July collapse of one Vineyard Wind turbine blade, a “flotilla” of about two dozen commercial and recreational fishing vessels steamed to the wind farm on Sunday to protest offshore wind development and its impact on the marine ecosystem.

The vessels, hoisting anti-offshore wind flags and blasting air horns, departed early Sunday morning from ports in New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and along the Cape, converging at about noon on the site of the crippled Vineyard Wind turbine.

“The blade collapse was an eye-opener to a lot of people who before didn’t know that offshore wind is a disaster for the ocean,” said Shawn Machie, 54, who is captain of the New Bedford scalloper F/V Capt. John.

On July 13, one of the three blades on turbine AW38 sustained damage while undergoing testing. Five days later, a 300-foot section of the blade collapsed into the water leaving fiberglass debris floating in fishing grounds and scattered across beaches, mostly on Nantucket. It marked an inflection point as the first industrial energy incident in this era of offshore wind development in waters off the Northeast coast.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Light

Cape Cod regional leaders ask feds for more direct role in plans for offshore wind

August 26, 2024 — Barnstable County officials are calling on the federal government to involve the community more directly in offshore wind plans for the Outer Cape.

The Assembly of Delegates voted Wednesday to send a letter to the Biden administration making that request.

In an interview before the vote, Assembly Speaker Pat Princi of Barnstable said Cape Codders need to be heard.

“There’s just a lot that really hasn’t been talked about that is of major concern to residents who live here, work here, who support their families here,” he said.

Before the meeting, Wellfleet Delegate Lilli-Ann Green drafted a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland asking to turn back the clock five years on Outer Cape offshore wind.

Read the full article at CAI

Vineyard Wind And GE Vernova Respond To Community Questions After Blade Failure

August 26, 2024 — After weeks of avoiding questions from the community, GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind have responded to a list of inquiries from the Town of Nantucket. Those answers are included below, along with relevant context. Some questions and answers have been abbreviated or omitted for brevity or edited for grammatical correctness.

  • Question: Has this incident occurred elsewhere?

Answer: A Haliade 220-X blade incident has not occurred elsewhere due to a manufacturing deviation. There was an offshore blade event in the UK, but it was due to an unrelated installation issue. Answered by GE Vernova.

Context: While this answer is factually correct, it is worded to avoid mentioning similar issues that have occurred with a series of GE Vernova blades other than the Haliade 220-X.

  • Question: How long do we expect debris to wash up?

Answer: On August 14, 2024, the companies safely completed the removal of the hanging pieces of the affected blade through a safe controlled cutting operation. They also removed the debris that settled on the turbine platform. They are now advancing to the next step of the action plan by preparing for the removal of the blade root and addressing debris on the seafloor. The companies maintain teams at sea, by air, and on the shore in Nantucket and surrounding areas to address any additional debris that may be found. Answered by Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

Fishing Flotilla Protests at Still-Damaged Vineyard Wind Turbine As Debris Continues to Wash Ashore

August 26, 2024 — A flotilla of fishermen from across the East Coast gathered yesterday near the site of a damaged Vineyard Wind turbine to protest the perceived risks posed by offshore wind projects to the ocean and maritime communities. The protest, which also included a “Hands Across the Beach” demonstration on shore, highlighted growing concerns among fishermen about the impact of large-scale wind farms on their livelihoods and the environment.

Vineyard Wind, which has been constructing towering turbine structures off the coast, has faced increasing criticism from local fishing communities. The concerns have escalated following a turbine blade failure in July that left fiberglass debris in the surrounding waters. Fishermen fear that the turbines, which are taller than the Statue of Liberty, may not withstand the harsh winter conditions and powerful storms of the North Atlantic.

Read the full article at Shore News Network

Why Is New York Paying So Much for Wind Power?

August 26, 2024 — New York state signed a contract in June to buy electricity generated by two large wind farms, Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind, off the coast of Long Island. The projects are expected to begin in 2026 and 2027, with power delivered to Brooklyn (Empire) and Long Island (Sunrise). The state will pay $155 and $146 per megawatt-hour, respectively. These prices are steep, at least four times the average grid cost paid over the past year. New Yorkers should be asking why.

States agree to pay wind-power operators—known as the “offtake price”—based on a project’s “break-even cost,” the estimated bill for building and operating the wind farm over its useful life. That is undoubtedly part of the problem. The offshore wind business off the East Coast is in turmoil. Operators have canceled projects from Massachusetts to Maryland that were due to be constructed in the next four years. Some have been delayed, while others have renegotiated their contracts at prices 30% to 50% higher than originally promised.

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

New turbine blade failure in North Sea, as fishermen protest at Vineyard Wind

August 26, 2024 — AGE Venova Haliade turbine suffered a blade failure Aug. 22 on the Dogger Bank A offshore wind project in the North Sea, about six weeks after a fractured blade shut down the Vineyard Wind project off southern New England.

The Dogger Bank incident is the second blade failure on that project after one in May. All three involve Haliade 13-megawatt generators, marketed by GE Vernova as an industry standard as wind developers go big in a quest for efficiency.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

A boat flotilla in protest of Vineyard Wind

August 28, 2024 — A group of approximately 15 to 20 boats descended on the Vineyard Wind project site on Sunday afternoon in a show of peaceful protest against the offshore wind industry.

The group, composed of commercial fishermen and concerned citizens, have been energized by the recent failure of a turbine blade that fractured and fell into the ocean, washing ashore debris including fiberglass and foam on Nantucket and Island beaches.

The “flotilla,” as it was called, was organized by the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Organization (NEFSA), a fishing industry alliance that has said its frustrations and concerns surrounding offshore wind have not been answered by Vineyard Wind or local officials.

Vineyard Wind is building the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind project, and has been met with significant resistance by both commercial fishermen and locals who are wary about the potential effects of large wind turbines on marine life, fisherman’s livelihoods and on the impacts to their views. The turbines stand as high as 837 feet, with blades as long as a football field. Following the recent blade failure, Vineyard Wind has been forced to halt construction while federal officials conduct an investigation.

Construction on the project has resumed, though Vineyard Wind is not allowed to generate power. GE Vernova, the renewable energy subsidiary of General Electric that manufactures the turbines, has been conducting extensive examinations of the blades to determine the root cause of the failure, and says it will use new algorithms to monitor the health of blades in real-time.

Read the full article at MV Times

Off The Coast Of England, Another GE Haliade-X Wind Turbine Blade Failure On Thursday

August 23, 2024 — A wind turbine at the Dogger Bank Wind Farm off the coast of England suffered a blade failure Thursday morning as it was being commissioned. It was the second blade failure at Dogger Bank involving GE Vernova’s Haliade-X turbine, the same model that is being installed by Vineyard Wind in the waters southwest of Nantucket.

The Dogger Bank Wind Farm – slated to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm when it is completed – disclosed the incident Thursday evening on its website, stating “We are aware of a blade failure which occurred this morning on an installed turbine at Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm, which is currently under construction. In line with safety procedures, the surrounding marine area has been restricted and relevant authorities notified. No one was injured or in the vicinity at the time the damage was sustained. We are working closely with the turbine manufacturer, GE Vernova, which has initiated an investigation into the cause of the incident.”

For GE Vernova, it was the third known blade failure involving its Haliade-X turbine model in 2024, including the Vineyard Wind blade failure on July 13 that sent thousands of pieces of fiberglass and styrofoam onto Nantucket’s beaches and beyond.

Tim Brown, the media relations leader for GE Vernova, notified the town of Nantucket about the incident Thursday at 7:42 p.m. Select Board chair Brooke Mohr said the town would be issuing a statement about the incident Friday morning.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current