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NEW BEDFORD — For more than a year, big, blue heavy lift vessels have carried gargantuan GE Vernova wind turbine components into the Port of New Bedford, where, soon after, a barge carries them out as a set: three blades, two tower pieces, and one nacelle.
But on Friday, one of the delivery vessels, the Rolldock Sun, was seen carrying at least two blades out of New Bedford. It was not headed for the Vineyard Wind site, according to vessel tracking websites, but to France: specifically, the Port of Cherbourg, where GE Vernova has a blade manufacturing facility.
The Rolldock Sun had come into port from Cherbourg a few days earlier with four blades visible on deck. Blades for the project have been shipped from factories in Canada and France, but it is unclear how many have come from each.
Friday’s transit raises the question of why the wind project — which spends considerable time and money shipping major components from Canada and France into the U.S. — would ship blades overseas from New Bedford.
A GE Vernova spokesperson did not respond to several questions and in an email on Friday, stated the company has “no comment on this matter.” The spokesperson did not respond to additional questions as of noon Monday, including which factory the blades on the Rolldock Sun were manufactured at, when they were made, and what will happen when they arrive in Cherbourg.
Over the weekend, a spokesperson for Vineyard Wind by email said “the weekend has gotten in the way of the information flow,” and that they would share information should they hear anything. Another request for information was not answered as of noon Monday.
In July, a GE blade failed on an installed turbine in Vineyard Wind’s offshore wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard. Since then, GE has been re-inspecting all blades, including those shipped to New Bedford and those already installed offshore, in order to assess whether other components might be affected.
Early analysis determined the blade’s failure was caused by a manufacturing defect at the Canada factory, specifically “insufficient bonding” or adhesive, which holds the two halves of the blade together.
The Light asked the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement about the status of its investigation into the blade failure and whether it has any knowledge as to why the project appears to be sending at least two blades to France. A BSEE spokesperson did not answer questions and said by email that the agency has no new information.
The only other project using Haliade-X turbine models is the Dogger Bank wind farm, also under construction, in the United Kingdom. A turbine blade failed at Dogger Bank in August. The company later shared that the failure was unrelated to manufacturing.
The Cherbourg facility made news this summer, when RENews reported the factory experienced an “operational incident” to one of its blade molds that would reduce production capacity.
GE Vernova also produces blades for the Vineyard Wind project at a factory in Gaspé, Quebec.
Vessel trackers show the Rolldock Sun has been going back and forth between Cherbourg and New Bedford, including the most recent transit. Photographs of the vessel departing New Bedford in March and July appear to show it leaving without turbine parts.
The Cherbourg factory was built in 2017 by LM Wind Power, which is now a subsidiary of GE Vernova. LM Wind Power opened the Gaspé facility in the early 2000s with subsequent expansions. The subsidiary has produced more than 200,000 blades over four decades, according to its website.
Vineyard Wind 1, one of the United States’ first commercial wind farms, is being built about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The farm is designed to include 62 turbines producing 800 megawatts, or about enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.
The project began delivering power to the electric grid in early January with about 10 turbines, but its electricity production has been suspended since the broken blade.
As of mid-September, the developer had installed 24 full turbines. Since July, Vineyard Wind has been under a suspension order from federal regulators as they investigate the blade failure. The current order allows the installation of further turbine foundations, towers, and nacelles, but power production and blade installation remain prohibited.
As project officials continue to respond to the incident and understand its cause, GE Vernova is set to lay off about 900 of its offshore wind workers worldwide, the Times Union reported last week.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Everyone not commenting on this means that it is because defects were found and they don’t want to admit it.
The boondoggle continues! Maybe, eventually, people will realize that there are other far more green solutions on land and that off-shore wind will never work as well as people are claiming it will.
Clearly there was a defect. The is nothing to admit. It was not caused by high winds.
What are the far more green solutions than off shore wind?
On shore?
Solar?
***A total of two blades failed at Dogger Banks A wind farm- one in May, and a second one in August. Both blades were built in Cherbourg.
The first blade fail followed the Cherbourg facility closing one section of the blade-building facility due to a mould failure in April. https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/operational-incident-hits-blade-production-at-lm-wind-power-plant-in-france/2-1-1622208
A second GE Vernova wind turbine blade has failed at the Dogger Bank A wind farm off the northeast coast of England, according to Reuters and several online reports.
According to the reports, Dogger Bank wind farm officials said they were “aware of a blade failure which occurred” on Thursday morning on an installed Haliade-X 13MW turbine at the North Sea wind farm, which is still under construction.
GE Vernova said no injuries were reported and that it was investigating the blade failure, without giving details, according to the Reuters report.
The failure follows another wind turbine blade failure in May at the Dogger Bank A wind farm; and comes closely on the heels of still another turbine blade failure at the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts in July.
According to a previous statement from GE Vernova, the earlier turbine blade failure at the Dogger Bank wind farm in May was the result of an installation failure.
https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-energy/article/55135538/second-ge-vernova-turbine-blade-reportedly-fails-at-uks-dogger-bank-wind-farm
How many jet engine turbine blades have failed?
Oil drill rigs?
What energy extraction is without risk?
In 2012 they developed a test site for rhe world’s largest wind turbine, Haliade-X, on Maasvlakte in Rotterdam. This ‘test rig’ duplicates the ocean weather against the turbine. The test takes over five years to enable an assessment of wind turbine performance and operational procedures.
How long should it take?
SO NONE OF THESE BUGGERS WHO ARE SPENDING (GRIFTING/WASTING) OUR TAX MONEY WILL GIVE THE PUBLIC A STRAIGHT ANSWER ON WHAT IS GOING ON AND NEITHER WILL THE BUYDENOBAMA HARRIS JUNTA??
How much tax money have they received?
Payments dates and payees, please.
Who are they?
Saving the planet from green house gases shouldn’t be a political issue. Manufacturing defects affect all industries. Why the firestorm over this? No one was injured and the environmental damage was minimal-it washed up on a beach like a piece of driftwood. Quit the vitriol please.