October 23, 2024 — Vineyard Wind will be removing more blades that have already been installed at the wind farm southwest of Nantucket following the completion of inspections conducted in the aftermath of the July 13th blade failure.
GE Vernova, the manufacturer of the turbines and blades being installed by Vineyard Wind, stated early Wednesday that it intends to remove “some blades” from the wind farm after the re-examination of more than 8,300 ultrasound images per blade and physical blade inspections with “crawler” drones. It’s unclear how many blades will be removed or what the inspections revealed, but the announcement clearly indicates the company discovered additional manufacturing deviations similar to what it believes caused the blade failure over the summer.
Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova will also be “strengthening” other blades, apparently in response to what was found during the inspections. The process of how blades are strengthened and where was not disclosed.
During an earnings call with investors Wednesday morning, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said the number of blades found with a manufacturing deviation was in the “low single-digit proportion” of all the company’s manufactured blades but did not specify the exact number.