Vineyard Wind officials say that they have returned to attaching blades to turbine towers at its offshore wind farm more than a dozen miles off the Island, following a malfunction in July that temporarily suspended construction.
A spokesperson for the development said that work began on Saturday and continued through the weekend after an “extensive inspection” of its blades.
Federal officials have indicated that they have given approval for the addition of three blades for now.
How far the Vineyard Wind has left until construction is complete, the company did not address in a statement given on Monday, nor did they respond to followup questions from The Times.
Nantucket officials alerted residents on Friday that Vineyard Wind had contacted them noting that construction on the blades would commence this weekend.
The announcement signals the first time Vineyard Wind has begun adding its 351-foot-long turbine blades since one fractured in July, which caused foam and fiberglass to spew into the ocean that eventually landed on Nantucket, some debris traveling as far as Rhode Island. The fracture has raised concerns for some locals about the future of the offshore wind industry, including most recently leaders and citizens of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
In October, GE Vernova — the contractors charged with the construction of the Vineyard Wind turbines — announced plans to restart construction on the site with a suspension order lifted by the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The company indicated then that blade work would continue again “once stringent safety and operational conditions are met.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for the federal agency said that they had given Vineyard Wind and Vernova approvals to move forward on a case-by-case basis and that an independent agent had verified the checks.
“The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has reviewed detailed data and engineering documentation submitted by GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind 1, as well as the documentation from the certified verification agent (CVA), which is the independent third parties, regarding the installation of three turbine blades,” the statement reads. “After careful evaluation, BSEE has agreed to allow the companies to proceed with installation of these blades as part of an incremental, case-by-case approach,” the spokesperson said.
GE Vernova in October indicated that the fractured blade stemmed from a manufacturing deviation in a plant in Canada. At the same plant, a number of workers were suspended for taking shortcuts on quality control measures, according to Reuters who quoted unnamed sources.
Vernova officials have also told investors that they were “systematically reviewing” all of their blades, noting that a “low single-digit proportion” of them also had a manufacturing deviation similar to the blade experiencing the failure with Vineyard Wind.
Vineyard Wind is developing 62 turbines south of the Vineyard. Vineyard Wind’s GE Haliade-X 13MW turbines are 813 feet tall, including the blades. The blades are 351 feet long.
