Vineyard Wind incident was not the first time a GE Vernova wind turbine fell apart, ET EnergyWorld

An incident at the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project this week that scattered fiberglass shards across Massachusetts beaches was the latest in a series of mishaps involving wind turbines made by GE Vernova.

At least one other GE Vernova offshore wind turbine has broken apart this year, at the massive Dogger Bank A project off the coast of Britain. And several onshore wind turbines have also broken down in Germany and Sweden in recent years, according to a Reuters investigation into recent incidents in the wind power industry.

The turbine blade incidents were a setback for projects at a time when the U.S. and other governments are turning to wind power as they move away from fossil fuels to combat climate change. The mishaps have raised questions about the quality of GE’s turbines that are widespread across the industry.

“It is not yet known whether this was the result of a faulty installation or a problem with the quality of the blades themselves, but that is the cause for concern,” said Chris Dendrinos, a clean energy industry analyst at RBC Capital Markets, referring to the Vineyard Wind incident.

GE Vernova competitor Siemens Gamesa is working to fix quality issues with its wind turbines after a series of equipment failures.

On Wednesday, federal safety authorities ordered Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to cease operations and halt construction activities until the cause of the incident is investigated.

The project is the first large offshore wind farm in the USA. It is still under construction and about a third of the planned turbines are already in the water.

Vineyard Wind is installing GE Vernova’s 13-megawatt Haliade-X turbines with 107-meter-long rotor blades. The rotor blade broke off about 20 meters from the root, Vineyard Wind said.

The company said the cause of the breakage was unknown.

In May, a single rotor blade of a GE turbine of the same model was also damaged in the Doggerbank A offshore wind farm. The operator, SSE Renewables, subsequently restricted access to the waters around the project and investigated the cause.

The outcome of the investigation has not been made public. SSE Renewables did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Treacy Reynolds, spokesman for GE Vernova, told Reuters that the two incidents were unrelated, but did not elaborate.

GE Vernova shares fell 9.25% to close at $165.83 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Over the past two years, onshore GE Cypress turbines have broken down in wind farms in Germany and Sweden. Onshore turbines are much smaller than their offshore counterparts. GE has not commented on the onshore breakages.

Vineyard Wind said Wednesday that the company had removed about 17 cubic yards, or more than six truckloads, of debris from the damaged wind turbine off the coast of Massachusetts.

Beaches on the south shore of Nantucket Island reopened Wednesday after being closed because of washed-up debris, the town said in a statement on its website. (Reporting by Nichola Groom and Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Diane Craft)

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