Saving Seafood

Vineyard Wind Withstands Another Legal Challenge

December 10, 2024 — Another attempt to halt Vineyard Wind through the courts fell short last week when a federal court dismissed an appeal by a fishermen’s organization and a Rhode Island seafood dealer.

A panel of judges with the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision on Dec. 5, saying the group’s claims that the federal government mishandled the approval process for the wind farm were unfounded.

The decision is one of several that Vineyard Wind, which aims to build 62 turbines to the south of the Island, has weathered in recent years, keeping the project’s approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management intact.

Seafreeze Shoreside, a Rhode Island-based seafood dealer, the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and other groups filed the appeal after their claims were rejected by the U.S. District Court in Boston in 2023.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Fallout continues from Vineyard Wind blade failure

November 22, 2024 — Last summer’s structural failure of a single blade on a southern New England offshore turbine continues to reverberate, with new demands for quality assurances and the industry under pressure from incoming president Donald Trump’s promise “to make sure” offshore wind power “ends on day one.”

Allegations that testing data was falsified at LM Wind Power’s plant in Gaspé, Quebec, where the blade was manufactured, are being investigated as part of ongoing probes into the July 13 failure of a turbine blade at the Vineyard Wind project off Nantucket Island, according to  reporting by Canadian news media outlets in late October.

Turbine manufacturer GE Vernova identified a “manufacturing deviation” in the blade built by LM Wind Power, causing breakage of the glued fiberglass laminate structure. On Oct. 24 Quebec news station Radio-Gaspésie and newspaper Gaspésie Nouvelles reported about 20 persons had been laid off or suspended from their jobs at LM Wind Power, including “directors, managers and supervisors,” the newspaper report said.

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova have been removing and replacing blades on turbines, with little information released on the work progress. GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik has said quality testing on manufactured blades have shown similar defects on less than 10 percent of suspect blades, or “low single digits.”

Strazik says the company is “proactively reinforcing some blades, either in the factory or in the field, to improve their quality and ensure their useful life.” The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is continuing its investigation into the blade failure.

Read the full article at Workboat

Cut corners? GE Vernova fires workers after probe into Vineyard Wind 1 failure

November 20, 2024 — Following a probe into the Vineyard Wind 1 blade that failed over the summer, GE Vernova’s offshore wind turbine manufacturing plant in Quebec, Canada has fired or suspended several workers.

Reuters originally reported the news last week citing sources “familiar with the matter,” and GE Vernova confirmed the reports this week. GE Vernova began the probe in response to a July incident, in which a suspected “manufacturing deviation” led to a Haliade-X turbine blade breaking, causing foam and fiberglass to plummet into the waters around Nantucket. Debris continued to wash ashore for weeks after the incident, putting Vineyard Wind 1 and GE Vernova in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Read the full article at Renewable Energy World

Troubles at factory making Vineyard Wind blades

November 12, 2024 — At least 14 turbine blades built for the Vineyard Wind project have been shipped to France from New Bedford, apparently due to a manufacturing defect that has resulted in layoffs and suspensions at the blade manufacturing plant in Gaspé, Quebec.

GE Vernova laid off nine managers and suspended 11 unionized floor workers at the LM Wind factory in Gaspé last month in response to the defective blade that broke on a turbine in July, the local union confirmed to The Light on Monday. The Gaspé plant had been manufacturing and supplying most of the blades for the Vineyard Wind project until the blade failure.

Managers at the LM Wind plant may have falsified quality testing data, according to a report from local outlet Radio Gaspésie. Citing anonymous sources, the radio station reported in late October that executives at the LM Wind plant may have asked employees to falsify quality control data, favoring production quantity over quality.

The local union is contesting the suspensions of the floor workers, “who are not responsible for the directives of their former superiors,” said Thierry Larivière, spokesperson for the wind power workers’ national union, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, in an email to The Light on Monday.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Vineyard Wind To Resume Pile Driving For Turbine Foundations This Week

October 28, 2024 — Even as it prepares to take down additional defective blades, repair others, and retrieve the remaining debris on the sea floor from the July 13 blade failure, Vineyard Wind is still forging ahead with the construction of its 62-turbine wind farm southwest of Nantucket.

Despite the turmoil and delays, the offshore wind company announced Saturday that the crane vessel Orion would be returning to the area this week to conduct pile driving and installation of the remaining monopile foundations within its lease area.

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

More Vineyard Wind blades coming down

October 25, 2024 — Vineyard Wind officials announced Wednesday that an unspecified number of turbine blades will be removed from its lease area 15 miles south of the Island, raising further questions about the integrity of the blades.

GE Vernova, the contractors charged with the construction of the Vineyard Wind farm — through a press release and during a call with investors Wednesday — did not specify how many blades have been or will be removed, although they said that less-than ten were impacted.

“There was a manufacturing deviation at one of our factories in Canada,” GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said during a quarterly call with investors on Wednesday. “We have been very systematically reviewing all of our blades in offshore wind and we can say today that a very small proportion, low single-digit proportion of our manufactured blades in totality also had a manufacturing deviation similar to the blade that we experienced the failure in Vineyard Wind.”

The latest press announcement follows recent reporting from the New Bedford Light that four blades were quietly shipped from New Bedford to a manufacturing plant in France.

Read the full article at MV Times

More Vineyard Wind blades must be removed, repaired

October 24, 2024 — The Vineyard Wind project must remove an unknown number of blades that have already been installed south of Martha’s Vineyard while it repairs others, the company announced Wednesday. The project also received permission from the federal government this week to resume blade installation after it removes and repairs the components in the coming weeks.

The latest announcement suggests investigations found more defective blades similar to the blade that failed in July, and comes after the project quietly delivered at least four turbine blades from New Bedford to Cherbourg, France, where GE Vernova operates a blade manufacturing plant.

Both companies had not responded to questions as to why blades were being shipped to Europe from the U.S., but on Wednesday, a GE spokesperson told The Light the repair work will occur “in the water/at the turbine, in other cases at the [marshaling] harbor and our factory in Cherbourg, France.”

The companies said they would be “strengthening” the blades “as needed to support the safety and operational readiness of this project,” but it is unclear what is meant by “strengthening” — whether it means applying more adhesive or fiberglass — or where in the blade the repair work will occur.

During an earnings call with investors Wednesday morning, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said the last few months for offshore wind have been “difficult for us.”

“We can say today that a very small proportion, low single-digit proportion of our manufactured blades in totality also had a manufacturing deviation similar to the blade” that failed at the Vineyard Wind site, Strazik said. “In those cases, we are taking action on those blades.”

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Vineyard Wind is given the OK to move forward after blade failure in July

October 24, 2024 — After months of delay, Vineyard Wind has announced it was given the OK to remove a damaged blade and complete its wind turbine project 15 miles south of Nantucket.

In July, a GE Genova-manufactured wind turbine blade broke off, falling into the ocean and littering nearby beaches with floating debris and sharp fiberglass, which angered residents.

The failure occurred at Vineyard Wind’s offshore wind farm, which began delivering energy from five of its planned 63 wind turbines in February.

Read the full article at Boston.com

Vineyard Wind Taking Down More Blades While Repairing Others After Inspections

October 23, 2024 — Vineyard Wind will be removing more blades that have already been installed at the wind farm southwest of Nantucket following the completion of inspections conducted in the aftermath of the July 13th blade failure.

GE Vernova, the manufacturer of the turbines and blades being installed by Vineyard Wind, stated early Wednesday that it intends to remove “some blades” from the wind farm after the re-examination of more than 8,300 ultrasound images per blade and physical blade inspections with “crawler” drones. It’s unclear how many blades will be removed or what the inspections revealed, but the announcement clearly indicates the company discovered additional manufacturing deviations similar to what it believes caused the blade failure over the summer.

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova will also be “strengthening” other blades, apparently in response to what was found during the inspections. The process of how blades are strengthened and where was not disclosed.

During an earnings call with investors Wednesday morning, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said the number of blades found with a manufacturing deviation was in the “low single-digit proportion” of all the company’s manufactured blades but did not specify the exact number.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

Feds Requiring Vineyard Wind To Complete New Study On “Environmental Harm” From Blade Failure

October 17, 2024 — The federal agency that suspended the Vineyard Wind project following the July 13 blade failure is now requiring the company to complete a new study evaluating the “environmental harm” caused by the incident in the waters southwest of Nantucket, according to a document obtained by Nantucket Current.

In a Sept. 27 letter from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) addressed to Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller, the agency ordered the offshore wind energy company to “conduct a site-specific study that evaluates the environmental harm and other potential damage flowing from” the blade failure, and to identify potential mitigation measures for that damage.

The order was obtained by Nantucket Current through a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Vineyard Wind project remains under a suspension order from BSEE following the disastrous turbine blade failure on July 13 that left Nantucket’s beaches littered with foam and fiberglass debris. That order was modified in August to allow Vineyard Wind to continue installing turbine towers and nacelles, but it is forbidden from producing power or installing blades.

According to the BSEE order signed Kathryn Kovacs, the deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management at the U.S. Department of the Interior who is exercising the delegated authorities of the BSEE Director, Vineyard Wind was required to submit a plan for the study on Oct. 11, but was eligible to appeal the order. It’s not yet clear if the company appealed the order or not.

Both Vineyard Wind and BSEE officials did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.

The required study “should characterize the subsea debris field resulting from the blade failure and the potential impacts or damage to onshore, coastal, and offshore resources from the blade debris.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current