Vineyard Wind Taking Down More Blades While Repairing Others After Inspections

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.

"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 at Vineyard Wind," Strazik said. "In those cases, we're taking action on those blades, and we're doing that right now, and really now getting to a point of shifting back to execution out at sea."

Vineyard Wind claimed on Wednesday that it was “granted approval to return to installing new blades on turbines at the project once stringent safety and operational conditions are met.”

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), however, had a different take on the status of the project. The agency confirmed Wednesday morning that it had issued an updated suspension order for Vineyard Wind on Tuesday that continues to prohibit the company from resuming power production, the installation of blades, and conducting any activity on the damaged turbine known as AW-38.

"At BSEE’s discretion, however, specific activities may be allowed on a case-by-case basis after sufficient risk analysis has been performed and mitigation measures are adopted," the agency stated.

There is no timetable for the completion of BSEE's independent investigation into the blade failure. While the agency stated that it is still requiring Vineyard Wind to submit a report regarding its root cause analysis of the blade failure, the company's CEO stated Wednesday morning that the analysis had been completed.

"We have finalized root cause analysis and confirm the blade at issue at Vineyard Wind was caused by a manufacturing deviation from our factory in Canada," Strazik said on the company's earnings call. "We have been very intentional, thorough, not rushed, in reevaluating our blade quality across offshore wind. In totality, as we re-accelerate progress on our projects, we are proactively strengthening some of the blades either back at the factory or in the field to improve quality and readiness for their intended useful life. We continue installing turbines in Dogger Bank, while at Vineyard Wind, we're installing towers and nacelles and are very close to resuming blade installation."

Returning Vineyard Wind to full operations and power production will resume "only after additional progress is made and all requisite approvals are granted," the companies disclosed. 

The town reacted to the news of Vineyard Wind being forced to take down and/or repair additional blades at the wind farm with a statement issued at noon on Wednesday by its special counsel for offshore wind matters, Cultural Heritage Partners.

"GE's announcement is both deeply concerning and reassuring," Nantucket Select Board chair Brooke Mohr sadin the statement. "It is concerning because it confirms that the GE Haliade X blades are not yet reliable for safe use in offshore wind farms and because the blades now offshore of Nantucket are not free from risk of inflicting future harms to the Island. The Town urges timely and careful action by the developer and the blade manufacturer to address this situation. The announcement is reassuring in that it affirms that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is doing its job on behalf of the American people by ensuring that the Vineyard Wind Project not be restarted unless and until all sufficient precautions are taken to ensure that there is no repeat of the July 13 blade failure."

What was not addressed by Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova Wednesday morning was why a number of blades were shipped back across the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month from the staging area in New Bedord to Cherbourg, France, where GE Vernova has one of its two plants that manufacture blades for the Haliade-X turbines. Officials from both companies have refused to comment on the shipment.

ACK For Whales, the Nantucket-based group that has been challenging Vineyard Wind for years and alleging that it is harming critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, called out the lack of information regarding the blade shipment to France and raised concerns about Vineyard Wind being allowed to resume blade installation. 

"We are shocked and truly disturbed that despite the environmental disaster that their project caused this past summer, Vineyard Wind is stating that they’ll soon be allowed to re-start blade installation," ACK For Whales members declared in a statement issued Wednesday. "The permitting for this project has been recklessly approved from the very beginning, and the project has already exhibited an enormous failure that does not appear to have been thoroughly addressed. A blade explosion, from which we are still seeing the damage, was not even considered in Vineyard Wind’s Construction and Operations Plan...According to Vineyard Wind, they are in the process of re-evaluating all of the blades and are currently sending blades back to France. How is it that no information is being communicated to the public with respect to their findings? How is it that these blades were not properly tested before any were installed?"

The original suspension order for Vineyard Wind implemented by BSEE in July was first modified in August to allow Vineyard Wind to continue installing turbine towers and nacelles. Since then, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova have installed eight new towers and nacelles (the box at the top of the towers) at the wind farm. 

Vineyard Wind also stated Wednesday that the removal of blade debris from the sea floor that began earlier this month will be completed this week and that the removal of the root of the blade from the rotor hub "is expected to occur in the coming weeks."

With regard to the ongoing environmental analysis of the blade failure, the companies' sampling and analysis work has begun, and they pledged to share the results in the coming weeks.

Jerry Leeman, founder & CEO of the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Assocation (NEFSA), said the news of additional blades needing to be removed was the result of the company cutting corners.

"Vineyard Wind is a slow-rolling disaster," Leeman said in a statement issued Wednesday morning. "It is now obvious that foreign mega developers and their political allies cut corners to bring their flagship project online. Despite the compounding safety concerns at Vineyard Wind, lease auctions loom for wind farms in the Gulf of Maine, the culmination of a rushed regulatory process. There is no doubt that speed has taken precedence over safety and conservation for offshore wind."

The blade failures at both Vineyard Wind and Dogger Bank, the wind farm off the coast of England which is the only other place where GE Vernova's Haliade X turbines are being installed, resulted in a significant financial loss for the company during the third quarter. Strazik also alluded to the challenging "industry economics" as he indicated GE Vernova will not be taking on additional offshore wind projects under the current conditions.

"In offshore we've had a difficult four months, and are disappointed given the impact on our customers and on our financial results, with a significant loss we took this quarter," Strazik said. "Looking ahead, we're focused on improving execution and delivering on the approximately $3 billion backlog in the safest, highest quality delivery model that makes economic sense for our customers and ourselves. We do not foresee adding to this backlog without substantially different industry economics than what we see in the marketplace today."