Wind Energy – Turbine Blade Breakdown
Top officials at GE Vernova said they believe a ‘manufacturing deviation’ at a facility in Canada is the likely cause of a turbine blade breakdown at Vineyard Wind 1 that resulted in foam and fiberglass washing up on Nantucket.
Scott Reese, the CEO of GE Vernova, said there is no indication of an engineering design flaw with the turbine blade. He said the company is re-inspecting all of the 150 blades that have been manufactured at a plant in Gaspe, Canada, to see if the problem occurred with other blades.
Reese said the deviation should have been identified through the company’s quality assurance process. He said the re-inspection process will rely on ultrasound and other techniques to identify any problems.
The Vineyard Wind 1 project will remain on pause while the investigation of what went wrong with the blade is conducted.
