More blade failures expected, town lawyers say in letter opposing new wind farm

The town’s legal counsel said it expects turbine blade failures at offshore wind farms, like the one which happened this July to Vineyard Wind will occur again.

The comments came in a lengthy letter of opposition to SouthCoast Wind, another proposed wind farm set to be located 23 miles southwest of the island that is moving through the federal permitting process.

The town has taken a harder line against SouthCoast Wind, a separate entity from Vineyard Wind, and the Select Board recently included an agenda item on today’s executive session agenda that says “To Discuss Strategy to Consider an Appeal of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Approval of SouthCoast Wind . . . ”

The letter, written on behalf of the town by Will Cook of Cultural Heritage Partners and sent to BOEM, says the full extent of the fallout from the Vineyard Wind blade failure is still unknown because the federal government has not completed its investigation.

Cook added that the accuracy of the visual impact the project will have on the island should be reassessed given that the visibility of the turbines, lighting and associated structures is much greater than expected. Cook also calls for BOEM to supply turbine failure rates to the public.

“It may not be BOEM’s intent to design offshore wind farms with a likelihood of failure, but based on our research, BOEM does not appear to have either engaged in or required product testing,” Cook wrote in his comments on behalf of the town to BOEM.

“We also expect that future turbine failures will occur. For these reasons, it is not appropriate for BOEM to propose to treat turbine failures as ‘unanticipated’ incidents.”

According to the permitting schedule released by the federal government, the permitting process for SouthCoast wind is expected to be completed in March 2025.

Local opposition group ACK For Whales is pushing to have the negotiations with SouthCoast Wind and future wind farm companies to be more open, and says the time is critical with more nearby offshore wind projects, like New England Wind, coming down the pipeline.

“The Select Board is meeting in closed session to discuss what the impacts are, and they don’t have people in there like the Shellfish Advisory Board, the Historical Commission, the Land and Water Council,” ACK For Whales member Veronica Bonnet said. “They don’t have the people who are charged with protecting Nantucket in the room. It’s outrageous, public dialogue is so important to protecting Nantucket’s interests.”

Bonnet also pointed to Article 78 which passed at Town Meeting saying that any action taken by the town to receive funds or enter an agreement with offshore wind companies would require a vote of Town Meeting.

Town counsel has said that article is non-binding, because warrant articles can’t force action from town officials or the Select Board. But even if that’s true, non-binding articles still carry weight.

“If you had a vote requesting the Select Board to do something, and it was an overwhelming vote, then just from a political standpoint, you would think that they would probably follow it,” town moderator Sarah Alger said prior to Town Meeting. “They are elected people and the people who elected them are telling them to do it. But they don’t have to.”

ACK For Whales claims the town’s leverage has been hurt significantly by the Vineyard Wind turbines that are already in place.

“SouthCoast wind, they’re basically offering nothing, because there is no longer an unobstructed view of the horizon,” Bonnet said. “All the future (impacts) are now considered against an ocean that already has wind turbines (that can be viewed from the shore).”