Search for debris from wind turbine on Nantucket – NBC Boston

Vineyard Wind will send teams to search Nantucket’s southern beaches for debris washed ashore after one of the blades of an offshore wind turbine was damaged.

The company announced Tuesday morning that it would launch a new effort to clear the pieces of fiberglass that could land on Nantucket and, with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard, maintain a 500-meter-wide “safety zone” around the affected turbine, about 15 miles from the islands.

Vineyard Wind has not yet publicly disclosed the cause of the problem, describing it only as “a blade failure incident that occurred on Saturday, July 13, 2024.” A company spokesperson said Monday that GE, which manufactured and installed the blades, is investigating the incident.

So far, the company said on Tuesday, “three large fragments” have been recovered from the damaged turbine blade. The Nantucket Current published photos of larger turbine parts floating in the water on Monday evening.

Vineyard Wind plans to continue monitoring the offshore area with “overflights and vessel patrols” to look for additional floating debris.

Any blade parts that may land on Nantucket’s southern beaches are likely to be “pieces of 1 square foot or less,” Vineyard Wind said. The company urged all beachcombers not to remove the debris themselves, but instead to contact Ian Campbell at (781) 983-8943 or [email protected] or report the location online.

“The debris consists of non-toxic fiberglass fragments of various sizes, from small pieces to larger sections, and is typically green or white in color,” Vineyard Wind said, adding, “Although the fiberglass fragments are not hazardous to humans or the environment, Vineyard Wind recommends that only its employees or contractors collect and remove the debris.”

NBC10 Boston’s Sky Ranger examined the 160-foot-long blade that fell off a wind turbine in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This is what it looked like from the air.

Search teams will search beaches in the morning and evening, with visits planned to Miacomet Beach, Nobadeer Beach, Madequecham Beach, Pebble Beach, Tom Nevers Beach, Low Beach and Sconset Beach “or other areas where debris may wash ashore.” The company will deploy two teams of four people each for “several days.”

Vineyard Wind, the joint venture between energy giant Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is the first large-scale offshore wind project to supply electricity to the regional energy grid. So far, the 10 turbines in operation produce 136 megawatts, and project managers plan to increase this output to 62 turbines with a total capacity of 806 megawatts.