Turbine off Nantucket Continues to Fall Apart

Above, one of the undamaged  GE Haliade-X Turbine1 Stands in the Vineyard Wind 1 project area, which is located south of Martha's Vineyard. [Eric Haynes/Courtesy Avangrid]

As of Wednesday evening, mMore debris is falling into the ocean from a damaged offshore wind turbine blade, and project developer Vineyard Wind said Wednesday night that a remaining piece of the blade could soon plummet.

Vineyard Wind announced just after 9 p.m. Wednesday that crews reported an "observed compromise to the integrity" of the blade, which already sustained significant damage over the weekend.

"While part of the blade remains attached to the turbine, we believe there is an increased possibility it could detach soon. There has been a 500-meter safety zone implemented around the turbine and GE Vernova blade since Saturday night, and it has been under constant surveillance," the company said in a statement. "We have mobilized our response team and have also witnessed new debris enter the water."

Vineyard Wind said it was notifying federal, state, local and tribal authorities, including the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which previously ordered work at the turbines to be suspended.

A mysterious incident damaged one blade on a turbine undergoing testing over the weekend, scattering debris that later washed up in the form of large and small fiberglass and foam pieces on Nantucket's southern beaches more than 15 miles away.

The 107-meter blade sustained damage about 20 meters out from where it connects to the rest of the turbine. Although the incident flung blade pieces into the water, it did not fully sever the blade, and most of the blade spent several days hanging parallel to the tower.

Vineyard Wind and GE have not yet announced what caused the problem. At a Nantucket Select Board meeting Wednesday, Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller described an alarm that tripped Saturday night.

"One of the blades on one of the positions was broken and folded over, bended over, and was not pointing in [the] direction that it should," he said. "The way the system acts, it's an automatic system, so the system actually shuts it down. And that's what happened here."

Moeller and other Vineyard Wind and GE representatives spent several hours before the Select Board, answering some questions and hearing criticism from a frustrated, worried crowd.

Just before 8 p.m., Moeller suddenly announced he needed to leave to deal with a new problem affecting the "rest of the blade."

"I want to apologize for our look at [our] phones, I didn't mean to offend anyone, but it was because we were informed just now that there's been a development to the integrity of the blade," Moeller told the board and attendees at the livestreamed public meeting. "We know very little because we've been sitting here, but I just want to inform you that there's a development on the integrity of the rest of the blade, and I need to respond to that."

Nantucket Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr called it "an emerging issue with the remainder of the blade."

"I think it's reasonable to ask the team to go find out what's going on," she said, noting that other Vineyard Wind representatives could answer questions after Moeller's departure. "Folks, this is the definition of crisis management. Things change by the minute, okay. We can only know what we know in the moment, so please, go and find out what's going on and come back and let us know immediately."

Residents and other interested parties who attended the meeting expressed outrage about the incident, its impact on the island and potential consequences for marine life.

While environmental groups have said they have not observed any harm on marine life, attendees told Nantucket's Select Board they're worried about lasting impacts from small plastic particles that might have fallen off the damaged blade.

Galen Gardner, a retired teacher, said Vineyard Wind and blade manufacturer GE "contributed gobbledegook science and corporate-speak to address the situation."

"We are here tonight in a packed house to express our anger and dismay over the rape of our oceans, our peace, our prosperity, our beloved marine life," Gardner said.

Vineyard Wind has 10 operational turbines that, before being shut down, were delivering about 136 megawatts of power to the regional grid. Project leaders eventually plan to scale up to 62 turbines providing 806 megawatts.

The company did not publicly reveal the Saturday incident until Monday, and similarly did not disclose that it shut down power production on Saturday night until Wednesday -- one day after federal safety officials said work at the project is "shut down until further notice.