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Just days before an offshore-wind-averse Trump Administration takes office, the lead safety regulator for offshore wind has lifted its suspension order on the Vineyard Wind project. Construction and power generation can now resume with new safety requirements, including the mandated removal of all blades manufactured in Gaspé, Quebec.
Under the revised construction and operations plan, approved Friday by the Biden Administration, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova must remove blades from “a maximum of 22 wind turbine generators … that were installed prior” to the July blade failure — more than a third of all turbine locations.
“Effective Jan. 17, 2025, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) lifted the December 19, 2024, Suspension Order, based on revisions Vineyard Wind made to its construction and operations plan,” a BSEE spokesperson told The Light on Saturday.
The companies must complete a “study that evaluates the environmental harm and other damage from the blade failure,” the spokesperson continued.
The Light previously reported that the manufacturing defect from the failed blade in July was traced to the Quebec factory, where managers may have falsified quality testing data, leading to suspensions and layoffs. The blade failed due to “insufficient bonding” — an adhesive that holds the composite together.
“After reprocessing of the manufacturing data from the installed blades, additional blades with insufficient bonding were identified, leading to GE Vernova’s decision and BSEE’s direction to remove all installed blades manufactured at the Gaspé, Canada plant,” the new plan states.
Over the past few months, vessels have removed several installed blades from the site, and received shipments of blades from GE Vernova’s other manufacturing plant in Cherbourg, France. The plan, submitted in December but approved this week, notes much of the blade removal activity will happen in 2025.
The new plan states if the project “cannot demonstrate to BSEE’s satisfaction that, post-repairs, the blades manufactured at the Cherbourg facility… meet the original design criteria, BSEE may require them to be removed.”
A certified verification agent must also witness manufacturing for all newly made blades in the Cherbourg facility, and “must align with BSEE on what processes the [agent] must witness, including but not limited to application of adhesive and blade closure.”
Per the new construction plan, BSEE will not allow installation of new blades manufactured in Quebec, and is requiring the companies to demonstrate the new blades meet the original design criteria, and shut a turbine down if blade damage occurs.
Vineyard Wind, in its new plan, states blade removal activities “will involve limited vessel activity, potential short-term effects to offshore water quality, and temporary seafloor disturbance.”
The project may use a second specialized installation vessel, in addition to the Sea Installer, which has been performing all the turbine installation and removal work to date.
Removed blades will be brought to Canada, over a period that could last up to seven months. The plan notes a second vessel could help reduce project delays and the number of round trips to Canada.
Vineyard Wind is also adopting additional mitigation measures following the failure, including examining the manufacturing records of each blade received to ensure structural integrity, and visually inspecting each installed blade prior to power production.
Additionally, external inspections via drone or rope access must be conducted within six months of new blade installations.
One turbine now generating power
Earlier on Saturday, Vineyard Wind spokesman Craig Gilvarg told The Light that the wind farm is generating power again — by a single turbine.
Gilvarg said the turbine met the project’s “stringent safety and operational conditions,” and that it started generating in “late 2024.” The news about the turbine was first reported by the State House News Service.
The former suspension order, issued in late October, prohibited power generation, but also said that “specific activities may be allowed on a case-by-case basis after sufficient risk analysis has been performed and mitigation measures are adopted.” BSEE also issued a previously unreported revision of the suspension order in December.
BSEE’s Friday approval appears to allow further power production, but only from turbines with blades from Cherbourg. The document says only six Cherbourg-built blades are currently installed.
Gilvarg emphasized the project’s commitment to safety as it resumes full construction and operations.
“Following months of extensive work and collaboration with the federal interagency, GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind developed a detailed and rigorous approach to safely resume the construction and operation of the project,” said Gilvarg in a second statement Saturday afternoon. “Friday’s action cements this plan as a modification to the COP, which strengthens the project’s construction program, ensuring that this rigorous approach will guide all project activities in perpetuity.”
“Going forward, the companies remain committed to safety as the highest priority, and are grateful for the care and engagement with which the federal, tribal, state, and local authorities have approached this project,” he continued.
A GE Vernova spokesperson on Saturday said the company will “continue to prioritize safety and quality” with the steps reflected in the new construction plan.
Vineyard Wind 1 started generating electricity in early 2024. It was shut down in July after a blade shattered, but was allowed to resume some construction operations. In December, it installed the last of 62 foundations for its wind turbines. But only a third of the turbines have been completed.
The State House News Service contributed reporting for this story.
OK we all want safety measures enforced re the Vinyard Wind project but let’s not toss out the baby w the bathwater.A blade fell off another was damaged..accidents w a new energy industry happen.How many coal miners were killed digging for that energy..how many died building the Panama canal or constructing the trans pacific railroad ? Nobody died from a falling blade and the most outrage was generated by the matriarchs an d patriarchs of Nantucket and the Vinyard who got their panties in a twist over a fallen blade..oh the horror of it! Pahleze let’s resume a project to bring cleaner less expensive energy and bring good paying jobs to the South Coast! Oh don’t mean to beat a dead horse..BUT what is the economic sense of bringing blades back to Gaspe then new ones from Cherbourg..the sheer cost of it..why not convince GE to build a factory in New Bedford..After all Trump and Maga say they want yo bring jobs to America..can’t think of anything more American than GE!Put your support where your mouth is
GE Renewables is based in Paris, France. The turbines are made there and I think the blades may be as well. The large poles that get piled into the ocean are made here and they receive Inflation Reduction Act credits, which the companies (in this case GE, others) then sell to financial institutions in exchange for cheap loans.
It would be one thing if all of this offshore wind was lowering our electric bill, but it is not. So we get landscape pollution off of the SouthCoast (wind turbines as far as the eye can see at Cherry & Webb/Baker’s Beach in Westport) and a 33% rate increase thanks to the 63% mandate for renewable electric power sources in the state. Of course the Biden admin is doing this out of spite against Trump. I would watch the lawsuit news if I were you. Lastly, these firms should be required to prove that wind energy will stop ocean levels rising in New England (they cannot prove that) and that lower greenhouse gas emissions in the state have contributed to the global reversal of polar temperature increases (they cannot). What I’d love to see is for dozens of wind turbines pounded into the sea within an eyeshot of Provincetown and all along the National Seashore up there where Boston politicians summer. Put them there. How beautiful will it be to watch the sunset between the blades of European-made wind turbines? Oh, and please make them clean up the whale carcasses themselves. They can then finish the day with a wine and cheese event on the sandy shores to celebrate their virtue.
“landscape pollution” hahah oh yes looking at these wind turbines really hurts the eyes. Never mind not being able to see the sun from smoged filled gas/oil/coal plants along with all the pollution they put into your lungs and atmosphere. Really people need to get a grip. Clean energy is the future. You are just looking to kill your kids.