Turbine Blade Failure Closes Vineyard Wind, Nantucket Beaches

by Steve Haner

Posted on Boston’s CBS affiliate WBZ this morning:

NANTUCKET – The federal government has ordered the Vineyard Wind farm to shut down until further notice because of a turbine blade failure this weekend.

Several beaches were closed on Tuesday while crews worked to clean up “large floating debris and fiberglass shards” from the broken wind turbine blade off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. A total of six south shore Nantucket beaches were closed to swimming due to debris that washed ashore.

“You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches,” the Nantucket Harbormaster said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said all operations are shut down until further notice.

“A team of BSEE experts is onsite to work closely with Vineyard Wind on an analysis of the cause of the incident and next steps,” the agency said in a statement.  

Crews could be seen Tuesday afternoon removing pieces of fiberglass from the beach.

Vineyard Wind says the cause of the breakage is unknown at this time. According to WBZ meteorologist Jacob Wycoff, there was some bad weather in the area, including gusty wind and lightning.

GE, the turbine and blade manufacturer and installation contractor, will be doing analysis for the root cause of the incident.

Here we go, Virginia.