Last summer’s structural failure of a single blade on a southern New England offshore turbine continues to reverberate, with new demands for quality assurances and the industry under pressure from incoming president Donald Trump’s promise “to make sure” offshore wind power “ends on day one.”
Allegations that testing data was falsified at LM Wind Power's plant in Gaspé, Quebec, where the blade was manufactured, are being investigated as part of ongoing probes into the July 13 failure of a turbine blade at the Vineyard Wind project off Nantucket Island, according to reporting by Canadian news media outlets in late October.
Turbine manufacturer GE Vernova identified a “manufacturing deviation” in the blade built by LM Wind Power, causing breakage of the glued fiberglass laminate structure. On Oct. 24 Quebec news station Radio-Gaspésie and newspaper Gaspésie Nouvelles reported about 20 persons had been laid off or suspended from their jobs at LM Wind Power, including “directors, managers and supervisors,” the newspaper report said.
Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova have been removing and replacing blades on turbines, with little information released on the work progress. GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik has said quality testing on manufactured blades have shown similar defects on less than 10 percent of suspect blades, or “low single digits.”
Strazik says the company is “proactively reinforcing some blades, either in the factory or in the field, to improve their quality and ensure their useful life.” The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is continuing its investigation into the blade failure.
Reuters reported Nov. 14 that nine managers at LM Wind Power were laid off and 11 union members were suspended.
“An employee committee has also been created to prevent quality problems re-occurring. We are proactive and determined not to let poor management dictate our fate again,” Jean Éric Cloutier, president of the union representing blue collar plant workers, told Reuters.
The fracture of a 351’ blade on a GE Vernova Haliade-X turbine sent fiberglass laminate and plastic shards into the sea southwest of Nantucket, Mass., and debris drifting up to Cape Cod and westward toward Long Island. The weeks-long cleanup by Vineyard Wind provided fresh ammunition to opponents of offshore wind power development.
A day before news reports about the LM Wind layoffs, GE Vernova said Oct. 23 it would be removing some blades on the Vineyard Wind turbines and taking measures to “strengthen” others already in service.
Nantucket town officials want the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to require new contingency plans for future wind turbine blade failures. After Vineyard Wind’s planned project of 62 turbines rated for 804 megawatts is completed, the island community will have to contend with another turbine array planned by SouthCoast Wind off the Nantucket coast.
“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,” the letter states. “We also expect that future turbine failures will occur.”
The letter continues: “Moreover, BOEM must revise the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to include a more robust emergency response plan to address the failure of wind turbine blades, as recently occurred on the Vineyard Wind 1 project, and justify its conclusions based on evidence gathered by the BSEE’s investigation into Vineyard Wind 1’s turbine failure. SouthCoast’s permit review must include detailed plans to address future blade failures and their potential to adversely affect Nantucket’s beaches, which are significant to the Nantucket National Historic Landmark’s character and setting.”
