Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Vineyard Wind turbine was undergoing testing Saturday when one of its 350-foot blades broke, a company spokesman said Tuesday. The turbine’s manufacturer, GE, is conducting a review with federal officials to figure out the cause.

The broken blade was dangling from the turbine early this week. 

“Nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine and has not fallen into the water,” spokesperson Craig Gilvarg said Tuesday. “The cause of the breakage is unknown at this time.” Photos show one of the three turbine blades dangling against the tower and splintered near the base. 

Vineyard Wind turbine blade that was damaged on July 13 captured by a New Bedford commercial fisherman. Photo courtesy of Anthony Seiger

The incident brought the Vineyard Wind project south of Martha’s Vineyard to a halt this week. Vineyard Wind’s operations are shut down until further notice, a federal safety agency said Tuesday.

Gilvarg said a blade had been damaged during the lifting process, but that blade was not installed. Three “newly manufactured replacement blades” were subsequently installed, one of which sustained damage on Saturday. The blade had a break of about 20 meters, Gilvarg said, or about 65 feet. 

Blade failure is not unprecedented. This year, there have been at least three reports of blade damage with wind projects overseas — both onshore and offshore — including a Siemens Gamesa blade in Norway and a Vestas blade in the United Kingdom. 

A GE Haliade-X blade of the same model size, 13-megawatts, was damaged in May in the Dogger Bank offshore project in the United Kingdom. A preliminary statement said it was an isolated incident, but further information was not available.

One of GE’s blade manufacturing facilities in France also reportedly had an “operational incident” with one of its blade molds, Recharge News reported in April, which caused it to reduce production. 

GE Vernova, the turbine manufacturer, has not responded to detailed questions. 

A government engineer said blade failures are “very rare,” and that it’s “not something that’s going to be a common occurrence.”

“These blades are designed to withstand a lifetime of operation that could extend to 30 years,” said Walt Musial, chief engineer for offshore wind energy at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “They’re rugged, they have a lot of structural redundancy built into them, and they’re weather-protected. When something like this happens, it’s an anomaly.”

Credit: New Bedford Light, OpenStreetMaps

Musial noted that discussion of possible causes of Vineyard Wind’s incident would be wholly speculative.

“I was looking at the pictures online, and it’s very unlikely that there’s a design defect, because the blade design goes through type certification and they test the blades to ultimate strength and through their fatigue life,” he said. “The blade can be damaged during installation because maneuvering and handling blades of this size is a new thing … that’s one possibility.” 

Rain fell on nearby Martha’s Vineyard between noon and 7 p.m. Saturday, ending around the time the Coast Guard received notice of the turbine damage.

Musial said it’s unlikely that weather caused the damage, noting the blades are designed to take 150-mph winds. 

“Was it damaged during shipping… something that happened to it during its transit from the factory to the site?” Musial asked. 

The blades are shipped into New Bedford by boat from Canada; turbine components also come in from Portugal and France. After the long journey, they are unloaded onto a staging terminal in New Bedford, and then re-loaded onto a barge, which transports the components to a jack-up vessel offshore for installation. 

Swimming was closed at several Nantucket beaches due to risk presented by the debris and fiberglass fragments. The town also advised beachgoers to leave their pets at home and wear appropriate footwear due to the fiberglass.

Vineyard Wind deployed staff to assist local officials in the cleanup.

The town of Nantucket said company executives “have communicated their company’s commitment to work with the Town to ensure this incident receives their top and timely attention” and that the town will be reimbursed for expenses. 

The Conservation Law Foundation, one of few organizations to issue statements on the incident so far, said there has been “no apparent harm to marine life.”

“It is important that Vineyard Wind take responsibility for this incident [and] prevent future accidents,” said Bradley Campbell, CLF’s New England president. “It’s also important for the public to understand that wind farms have been safely constructed around the world with none of the marine disasters — explosions, oil spills — and sacrifice of human safety associated with the fossil fuels they are replacing.”

Those opposed to offshore wind have been citing this incident to shore up calls to halt wind farm installation, including at the Vineyard Wind site. 

“The Vineyard Wind windmills are taller than the Eiffel Tower. Their blades are longer than a football field,” wrote Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association and a vocal critic of offshore wind development, on Facebook. “When they fall, they endanger vessels and degrade the environment. We must stop the industrialization of our oceans to protect mariners and marine life.”

ACK 4 Whales (previously named Nantucket Residents Against Turbines) wrote on social media, “Stop #BigWind now before it’s too late,” sharing images of green, foam blade components being collected across Nantucket beaches on Tuesday. 

The Vineyard Wind project started turbine installation last year, and as of last month, had 10 of the 62 turbines (or 136 out of the 800 megawatts) sending electricity to the Massachusetts grid. The company delivered first power in February.

A Vineyard Wind spokesperson has not confirmed whether offshore construction has been halted while GE’s investigation is underway. 

Vineyard Wind officials will provide updates on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. during the Nantucket Select Board meeting, which will also be live-streamed. 

Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.