Nantucket Current | Vineyard Wind reports damage to turbine blades in …

In an “incident at sea,” one of Vineyard Wind’s turbine blades was damaged on Saturday.

The exact nature of the incident is not yet known, but there were no injuries to Vineyard Wind personnel or other sailors.

The company, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables (a subsidiary of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola), released the following statement on Monday:

“On Saturday evening, Vineyard Wind experienced blade damage to a wind turbine in its offshore development area. No personnel or third parties were in the vicinity of the turbine at the time, and all Vineyard Wind and its contractors’ employees are safe. As part of its permits, Vineyard Wind has detailed plans in place that govern its response to incidents such as this. In accordance with these protocols, Vineyard Wind established a safety perimeter and worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to notify mariners.”

Vineyard Wind’s GE Haliade-X turbines, which will be attached to monopiles drilled into the seabed, will be 260 meters tall at the blade tip, almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower. A total of 62 turbines will ultimately be built in the Vineyard Wind 1 lease area, and by mid-July, 19 had been completed and 10 were in operation.

Nantucket Current has reached out to Vineyard Wind to determine the cause and nature of the blade damage, but has not yet received a response.

Captain Carl Bois of the Nantucket-based fishing company Topspin was in Vineyard Wind’s lease area on Sunday and told the Current he noticed a significant amount of debris. It is not yet clear if this is related to the “offshore incident” and damage to the turbine blades that Vineyard Wind reported on Monday.

“There was so much debris at the wind farm,” Bois said. “We drove many miles and all we saw on the wind farm site was the debris: big foam-core fiberglass panels and a lot of loose foam.”

Bois shared the following photos of the debris he saw on Sunday:

“GE, the manufacturer and installer of the project’s turbines and blades, will now analyze the root cause of the incident,” Vineyard Wind said in a statement. “While that analysis is taking place, Vineyard Wind will continue to work with federal, state and local stakeholders to ensure the health and safety of its workforce, mariners and the environment.”