Blades removed from at least two Vineyard Wind turbines

A Vineyard Wind spokesperson did not respond to questions from The Light. And a GE Vernova spokesperson declined to answer questions about blade removal at the specific turbine sites, referring to previous statements made about the recovery effort.

At least two sets of blades installed at the Vineyard Wind farm were taken down in recent weeks, according to maps and satellite images reviewed by The Light. 

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova in October announced an unknown number of blades at the site would be removed while others are repaired. A GE spokesperson previously said the repair work will occur “in the water/at the turbine, in other cases at the [marshaling] harbor and our factory in Cherbourg, France,” and that the company will not specify how many blades are being removed or repaired.

The Sea Installer, the specialized vessel that has been installing turbine components, is performing the blade removal, The Light previously confirmed. When Light reporters visited the wind farm on Nov. 20, they counted 10 turbines without blades (a Nov. 12 Vineyard Wind construction map only showed nine turbines without blades).

An updated map from the company dated Nov. 26 showed turbine AT39 no longer had blades. 

After the article was published, a Connecticut resident, Joel Stocker, contacted The Light and shared a map he created of construction progress at the Vineyard Wind farm based on satellite imagery and vessel movements. 

Living near enough to the coast to see vessels coming to and from the Revolution Wind site, the retired educator and GIS enthusiast said the local offshore activity has become his version of a crossword puzzle. 

In addition to the problem tower, AW38, which suffered the catastrophic blade failure in July, Stocker’s map highlighted two other turbines: AT39 and AS40. He shared satellite images which appear to show both towers with, and then without, blades. 

The Vineyard Wind map confirms that both are without blades. Another reader shared with The Light earlier versions of the Vineyard Wind mariner safety maps, dated May and July, which corroborated this information, showing blades were previously on AS40. 

A vessel tracker (which only includes the past 30 days) shows the Sea Installer near AT39. It then departed for Canada, reaching the Port of Sydney in Nova Scotia late last month.

In recent weeks, Nova Scotia locals have shared photos on Facebook of the large, bright green jack-up vessel in port. 

One photo of the ship, shared last week, shows what appear to be the blue metal cages into which the blades are stacked for transport. A Facebook photo from April showed the Sea Installer in the Canadian port, with blades on board. 

The same structures appear in more recent pictures of the vessel when it arrived in Salem this week. As of Wednesday, the installation vessel was steaming off the Massachusetts coast. 

The 62-turbine Vineyard Wind project requires 186 blades. At least 14 turbine blades built for the project have been shipped to France from New Bedford. With at least six blades seemingly removed offshore, that would bring the number of affected blades (including the failed blade) to at least 21, or about 11%. 

During an earnings call with investors in October, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said “a very small proportion, low single-digit proportion, of our manufactured blades in totality also had a manufacturing deviation similar to the blade” that failed at the Vineyard Wind site.

A GE Vernova spokesperson declined to answer questions about blade removal at the specific turbine sites, referring to previous statements made about the blade recovery effort.

“We continue to implement the Blade Incident Response and Action Plan that we shared in August and updated in October,” the spokesperson said in an email. “There are multiple components of this plan, and our teams continue to focus on prioritizing safety and quality in collaboration with our customer and all relevant authorities as we execute the Action Plan.”

“We are proactively strengthening some of the blades, either back at the factory or in the field, to improve quality and readiness for their intended useful life,” the statement continued. 

A Vineyard Wind spokesperson did not respond to questions and requests for comment. 

Construction at the wind farm has been disrupted since a blade failed and broke into the ocean over the summer while a turbine was undergoing testing. 

The federal government has since restricted certain construction activity at the site, though in October, it began allowing for blade installation on a case-by-case basis. Vineyard Wind is still barred from operating and sending power to the grid as the companies and federal government continue their investigations into the incident. 

As of November, about one-third of turbines appeared fully installed. Vineyard Wind’s lease at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal staging area was set to expire Dec. 31, but the company extended its lease through March.

It is unclear when the project will be completed.