Initial Environmental Assessment Of Vineyard Wind Turbine Blade Failure Released

One week after fiberglass and styrofoam debris from Vineyard Wind's destroyed turbine blade began washing up on Nantucket, the town has released an initial environmental assessment of the incident.

The report states the primary risk from the turbine blade debris is physical injuries to those coming in contact with it on public beaches in shoreline areas. It claims the debris is "inert, non-soluble, stable, and non-toxic," comparing it to materials that can be found in such common items as textiles, boats, and the aviation industry. While there are no PFAS-containing materials used in the manufacturing of the blade itself, there are more than 200 "aerodynamic add-ons" attached to the root end of the exterior of the blade which contain PTFE - commonly referred to as Teflon - which is categorized as a type of PFAS by the Food & Drug Administration.

The report emphasizes that there is still much left to be determined and evaluated and that the initial assessment will continue to evolve with additional information.

"As the CSM (Conceptual Site Model) advances, potential effects on human health and the environment will be considered and advanced, likely including scientific literature review, research, site-specific data collections and evaluations," the report states. There will be an "Expansion of the CSM consistent with standard planning and assessment activities for human health and ecological risk assessments, in terms of potential current and future receptors, exposure routes, and pathways."

Read the full report by clicking here

GE Vernova's material safety data sheets, or MSDSs, detailing the composition of the blade materials were used by Arcadis to draft the initial assessment and released by the town Wednesday morning. The 485-page document can be accessed online at this link.

The town shared the 11-page assessement just before 10 p.m. Tuesday night. It was paid for by GE Vernova, which hired Arcadis US, Inc., the engineering and environmental consulting firm, to complete the initial assessment.

Arcadis is the same firm the town of Nantucket hired to develop its Coastal Resilience Plan, as well as another project - a plan to manage the town's response to erosion along the island's eastern shoreline at Baxter Road. Arcadis also has a significant offshore wind energy consulting business.

The blade that "folded over" according to Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moller during the July 13th failure event was attached to GE Vernova's Haliade-X 13-megawatt wind turbine, the largest in the world. The blade is 351 feet long and weighs over 57 tons. It consists primarily of fiberglass, semi-rigid foam, and polyester resins, among other substances that will be revealed in GE's material safety data sheets.

"There are 33 different materials involved in the production of a turbine blade, from the most basic common household adhesives to the more complex industrial materials used to build the blade," the report states.

With respect to the "aerodynamic add-ons" that contain PTFE, the report explains that "At least 67 of 240 add-ons are visible as attached to the blade, and additional add-ons may be present on parts of the blade that are not currently visible...Of the remaining 173 units, it is not yet possible to confirm how many remain adhered to the outer blade due to not only the folded section of the remaining blade piece. It is possible that some may have fallen from the blade, have landed either on the working platform of the tower or equally into the sea, and/or have already been collected in the debris from the shoreline or by the salvage vessels."

The report states that Arcadis is coordinating with Resolve Marine, a maritime response and recovery company, on efforts to detach the remaining segment of the affected blade from the main turbine in coordination with Vineyard Wind, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and state and local officials.