A federal judge gave officials at Vineyard Wind 1 what they wanted late last week and, potentially, Massachusetts residents the energy they need, when he ordered the project’s central contractor GE Vernova to stay on the job, and not be allowed to break their contract on the offshore wind farm.
Judge Peter Krupp, associate justice of the Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, granted officials at Vineyard Wind 1 a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order, which means GE Vernova can’t terminate, at least for now, a contract that guarantees the company provides service and maintenance to the project’s 62 turbines over the next five years.
GE Vernova planned to walk out on its obligations on April 28 over alleged payments withheld by the offshore wind developer worth more than $300 million. Vineyard Wind said it withheld the funds because significant flaws in the blades cost the project time and money. GE Vernova issued a notice to Vineyard Wind about the payments nearly two months ago, and said it had 60 days to pay up.
“We are pleased with the decision, which ensures Vineyard Wind can continue delivering much-needed energy to Massachusetts customers and the New England grid,” Craig Gilvarg, a spokesperson for Vineyard Wind, said in a statement to The Times.
There were 55 turbines, as of Thursday, April 16, that can generate power, though not at full capacity. Sans GE Vernova’s work and proprietary information, Vineyard Wind officials said in court documents, they feared their decade-long project would become a “dormant wind farm graveyard.”
The decision by Krupp was published Friday, a day after attorneys on both sides argued why each company owed money to the other party.
GE Vernova sent the wind farm developer a termination notice at the end of February for withheld payments north of $360 million that date back as far as September 2024. But Vineyard Wind attorneys said that they have claims against GE Vernova that surpass that number, as much as $850 million, after a blade failure in July 2024 caused a two-year delay in work, and replacements were required on 72 blades already installed.
Among disagreements on contract language and clauses, attorneys also argued about the reliability of the enormous blades, which are 351 feet.
The blades and turbines are unprecedented in their size, and untested in the elements. They are on their maiden run, Frances Bivens, attorney for Vineyard Wind, said.
“They’ve never been used before on a wind farm,” Bivens added. “They have never been taken to an operational standpoint. And these were the first blades.” The root analysis by GE Vernova on the blade failure, Bivens said, found meters-long gaps in the adhesives that held two halves of the blade together, “almost like a razor clamshell” except the length of a football field.
She highlighted that a project in the U.K. called Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which uses GE Vernova’s Haliade-X turbines, also experienced similar problems.
But David Lender, attorney for GE Vernova, didn’t acknowledge the blade failures, and said that the amount owed to them is in excess of 5 percent of the contract price.
“This is a self-inflicted issue for them. If they want to pay us, we have been clear. We will continue to perform as long as I get it down below the 5 percent,” Lender said in court.
Lender said the energy company’s sent dispute notices to Vineyard Wind since September 2024, but didn’t want to terminate the contract until after all the turbines were installed.
“We understand this is an important project. We wanted to finish the work of installing the blades, which is what we’ve done,” Lender said. “We replaced all the blades … and now we’re at the last step, where we can turn this project over to somebody else to finish the last stage if they choose not to pay us.”
Now that all the blades are replaced and installed, the last stage means the turbines are commissioned and can operate commercially and make power at a commercial rate, which is when Massachusetts ratepayers could start to see relief in their bills.
Currently, the turbines aren’t “reliable to commercial standards, and they need to be in order for this project to be viable,” Bivens said, both for ratepayers and for the power purchase agreement between Vineyard Wind and the state.
She added that the contract guarantees that the turbines, for the first five years of operation, are 97 percent operational. It’s only GE Vernova, she said, that can get them there. “These are Haliade-X blades. They’re designed and developed by GE. GE has never had them become operational anywhere. So Vineyard Wind is the beta test for these blades, and GE is saying they can just leave now. They don’t work yet, to commercial standards, to commercial rates,” Bivens told the courtroom.
All the proprietary information on the turbines is owed by GE Vernova, she added. Bivens said that there’s a list of 160 vendors, such as Siemens and other competitors of the energy company, that GE Vernova suggested to take over their role.
“The idea that they’re going to hand over to Siemens their proprietary information about their turbines so that Siemens can come in and do the commissioning work instead of GE is just almost an insult to our collective intelligence that that could possibly be the case,” Bivens said.
Krupp granted the motion in Vineyard Wind’s favor Friday, and both parties are set to meet for another hearing on May 1. “To pretend that VW could go out and hire one or more contractors to finish the installation and troubleshoot and modify [GE Vernova]’s proprietary design without [GE Vernova’s] specialized knowledge is fanciful,” said Krupp.
While GE Vernova continues to pursue the money they say is owed to it, the company stands by the work that’s already been done.
“We are proud of successfully completing the installation of all 62 wind turbines at the Vineyard Wind Farm, and will continue to work to remedy the delinquent outstanding balances due from Vineyard Wind for work performed,” a GE Vernova spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “GE Vernova stands by our performance and our contractual obligations for payment due, and looks forward to next steps.”