Feds order offshore wind farm near Nantucket to suspend operations after blade breaks – Washington Times

The Biden administration ordered the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm to suspend operations this week after a blade from one of its turbines broke, dropping debris into the ocean that then washed up on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.

A large portion of the damaged blade came off Thursday and had sunk to the ocean floor by Friday, Nantucket city officials said.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, part of the Interior Department, ordered Vineyard Wind to stop power production from all of its wind turbines until officials can determine if the blade breakage affects more of the projects turbines.

No Vineyard Wind workers were injured when the turbine was damaged Saturday, the company said.

The cause of the blade failure is being investigated.

The cause of the breakage is unknown at this time. GE, as the projects turbine and blade manufacturer and installation contractor, will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident, Vineyard Wind spokesman Craig Gilvarg told the Nantucket Current.

GE Vernova, which designed the turbines, told local NPR affiliate WCAI-FM that the company is working around the clock on the issue and is working with urgency to finish its analysis of what caused the blade breakage.

Each of the turbines on the companys wind farm is more than 800 feet tall, according to the Vineyard Gazette, with each blade 350 feet long, almost as big as a football field. The blade was damaged about 65 feet from its root, according to The Boston Globe.

Vineyard Wind said the fiberglass debris, typically green and white in color, is not toxic. By Wednesday, 17 cubic yards of debris had been recovered and several larger pieces had been recovered.

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Feds order offshore wind farm near Nantucket to suspend operations after blade breaks - Washington Times