October 24, 2024 — The Vineyard Wind project must remove an unknown number of blades that have already been installed south of Martha’s Vineyard while it repairs others, the company announced Wednesday. The project also received permission from the federal government this week to resume blade installation after it removes and repairs the components in the coming weeks.
The latest announcement suggests investigations found more defective blades similar to the blade that failed in July, and comes after the project quietly delivered at least four turbine blades from New Bedford to Cherbourg, France, where GE Vernova operates a blade manufacturing plant.
Both companies had not responded to questions as to why blades were being shipped to Europe from the U.S., but on Wednesday, a GE spokesperson told The Light the repair work will occur “in the water/at the turbine, in other cases at the [marshaling] harbor and our factory in Cherbourg, France.”
The companies said they would be “strengthening” the blades “as needed to support the safety and operational readiness of this project,” but it is unclear what is meant by “strengthening” — whether it means applying more adhesive or fiberglass — or where in the blade the repair work will occur.
During an earnings call with investors Wednesday morning, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said the last few months for offshore wind have been “difficult for us.”
“We can say today that 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, Strazik said. “In those cases, we are taking action on those blades.”