Claims Fund For Losses Stemming From Vineyard Wind Blade Failure Opens In January

The community claims fund created to disperse the money the town of Nantucket received from GE Vernova in a settlement reached after one of the energy company’s wind turbine blades at the Vineyard Wind farm collapsed into the ocean and littered Nantucket’s beaches with debris will begin accepting claims submissions on January 26th.

“We are excited to reach another important milestone in our efforts to resolve the harms of this unfortunate event,” Select Board chair Dawn Hill said.

GE Vernova agreed to pay the town $10.5 million in the settlement reached last July. After fee payments to the independent litigation support services firm administering the fund and the town’s legal counsel, roughly $8.5 million will remain to be distributed through the claims fund to individuals and businesses that suffered losses as a result of the July 2024 Vineyard Wind blade failure.

Claims will be accepted by the facilitator, named Verus, for six months. Information on how to submit a claim through Verus’s web portal will be made available on the town’s website in January.

If valid requests for reimbursement exceed the available funding, Verus founder and chief strategy officer Mark Eveland said that each request will be fulfilled proportionally, with no special regard for certain applications.

If applicants disagree with Verus’s decision, there will be an appeals period. Eveland said that if appeals are filed, Verus will likely retain a separate arbitrator so that it is not ruling on the validity of its own decisions.