Vineyard Wind Wins Initial Victory In Lawsuit Against Turbine Manufacturer

A Boston judge has affirmed his own ruling that temporarily blocks GE Renewables from exiting its contract with Vineyard Wind, compelling the subsidiary of GE Vernova to continue servicing and maintaining the wind farm southwest of Nantucket.

Judge Peter Krupp this week rejected a pair of motions from GE Renewables that asked him to reconsider his previous order and send the case to arbitration. GE Renewables, the manufacturer of the offshore wind turbines used by Vineyard Wind, has been trying to leave the project, arguing that the offshore wind company owes them $300 million.

Vineyard Wind has countered by claiming that it is actually GE Renewables that owes them $500 million stemming from the collapse of a GE-manufactured turbine blade in July of 2024, which littered Nantucket’s beaches with debris and forced the wind farm to temporarily shut down while the cause of the break was identified. Ultimately, more than 60 blades had to be replaced. Vineyard Wind has also said that GE Renewables’ exit would endanger the very existence of the project, possibly leaving behind a “dormant wind farm graveyard”. So far, the courts have sided with Vineyard Wind.

In its latest motions, GE Renewables argued that, as Vineyard Wind had reached commercial operation, which obligates distributors to purchase the energy they generate, the state of the wind farm had materially changed, and the involvement of GE Renewables was no longer critical to the success of the installation. Krupp disagreed.

“The New Information is not really new,” he wrote in his ruling. “It does not change the fact that the Project requires GER's expertise and proprietary know-how to bring the turbines up to operational capacity. It does not suggest that the substantial delays, irreparable loss of expertise, and possible loss of financing that would be occasioned by GER walking off the job would be compensable through money damages. The New Information is not materially different from what was presented earlier.”

GE Renewables first informed Vineyard Wind of its intent to terminate the contract in February. Vineyard Wind then sued to force them to fulfill the terms of the contract.

Vineyard Wind claims that, although construction on the wind farm officially finished in March, it could be “months” before every turbine is operational, and a premature exit from GE Renewables could force the offshore wind farm to default on its loans and foreclose the project.

The New Bedford Light reported that Vineyard Wind attorney Francis Bevins said in court last month that 36 of the 62 turbines are not currently spinning—fewer than at the last hearing.

“We’ve gone backwards in terms of power production,” Bevins said.

It can be difficult to understand the power generation numbers coming from the wind farm. The New Bedford Light report claims that, under typical conditions, Vineyard Wind could be expected to generate about 400 megawatts of power, but that it is actually generating closer to 300 megawatts of power, which is at least in part because of the existing issues with the turbines.

Krupp has previously written that disputes between the parties are to be resolved by a project engineer, who took the side of Vineyard Wind.