Debris from broken Vineyard Wind 1 turbine getting harder to find

A file photo of Vineyard Wind turbine located 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. (Courtesy CommonWealth Beacon)

A Vineyard Wind 1 official said debris from a broken turbine blade is getting harder and harder to find and the manufacturer of the blade said plans are underway to remove what remains of the turbine.

“The reports of debris are shifting a bit,” said Richard Smith, an outside counsel for Vineyard Wind 1, who testified before the Nantucket Select Board Wednesday evening.

He said teams are following up on all reports of debris but of late many of the reports are turning out to be dead ends.  He said one report led a team to a bunch of trash floating on the water, including a Mylar balloon saying “Happy Anniversary.” He said the team picked up and disposed of the trash.

He also said there was a report of stringy material from the turbine blade in Truro. The team investigated. “What we found was seaweed that was string-like,” Smith said.

A large chunk of the blade fell into the ocean last week and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Smith said Vineyard Wind knows where the blade is located and is going to retrieve it. He gave no timetable for that retrieval operation.

Smith said he had no information on how much debris has been collected and how much might be left to find.

Roger Martella, chief sustainability officer for GE Vernona, the manufacture of the wind turbines, said the company is preparing to remove what remains of the broken turbine blade with the help of a company called Resolve Marine, whose employees are on site working out of New Bedford.

Martella said GE has been remotely moving the turbine blade in an effort to see how loose it is. He said the blade was rotated 7 to 10 degrees and it did not give way. He said the blade would be moved more on Thursday morning. If the blade doesn’t fall, he indicated Resolve Marine would try to remove it.

For the second time in a week, members of the Nantucket Select Board and residents held a meeting where they repeatedly raised questions about the broken turbine blade and the danger it poses to the island. It was terrible public relations at a time when the offshore wind industry is trying to establish itself as the state’s energy source of the future and state officials are preparing to issue more contracts for wind farms.

Brooke Mohr, chair of the Select Board, read a statement at the start of the meeting in which she said the community would begin negotiations next week to obtain restitution for the damage that has been caused. “We are deeply concerned about the safety, environmental, and economic impacts of this catastrophe on local residents and visitors to the island,” said Mohr.

GE Vernova officials described the blade debris as primarily fiberglass, foam, and balsa wood. They also said there was some trace amounts of Teflon. Martell described the debris materials as inert, non-toxic, and stable and said it could be disposed of in a regular landfill.

A report from Arcadis, a company retained by GE Vernova to do an environmental analysis of the debris, said in a report that Teflon “is one of a broad set of chemicals categorized as PFAS and approved by the FDA for use in contact with food, potable water, and pharmaceutical products.”

Jim Nuss, senior engineer at Arcadis, said it’s too early to assess the long-term impact of the debris and couldn’t answer whether there was any impact on fish or shellfish. “We have not considered that yet,” Nuss said.

Meredith Lepore, one of many people who voiced concerns at the meeting, accused GE Vernova officials of lying. “Teflon is not safe. Telling us it’s safe is a lie,” she said.

Other residents wanted to know why so many vessels appeared to be continuing to work at the wind farm even though work there was suspended shortly after the blade incident by the US Bureau of Enforcement and Environmental Safety.

Smith of Vineyard Wind said most, but not all, work at the wind farm has been halted.

“That doesn’t sound like stopped means stopped,” said Mohr, the Select Board chair.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Enforcement and Environmental Safety the suspension order requires Vineyard Wind to cease power production from all of its wind turbine generators in the lease area and also halt installation of new wind turbines.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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