The massive blade that broke off a windmill tower, splashed down into the ocean and had pieces wash up on Nantucket beaches a few weeks ago is having repercussions here today in Connecticut. The joint venture project being developed by a division of Orange-based Avangrid and a Dutch renewable energy company is under scrutiny, even as construction of the 806-megawatt offshore wind farm came to halt in mid-July when a 300-foot section of a 360-foot blade broke off one of the turbines that are part of Vineyard Wind. The project, which is a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is being developed about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:29
Tag Archives: Vineyard Wind
Fishing industry asks Supreme Court to hear case against Vineyard Wind
A national fishing industry group and conservation think tank have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their lawsuits challenging the approval of the Vineyard Wind project, which has been under construction since 2023. The lobbying group, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), sued the lead government regulator of offshore wind in early 2022, alleging the agency violated several acts, including those to protect existing ocean users and endangered species. At the crux of RODA’s appeal to the Supreme Court is the language of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and particularly, how the federal government interpreted it. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:52
Damaged Wind Turbine that Polluted Nantucket Beaches Last Year Further Damaged in Lightning Strike
Lightning struck a wind turbine off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, last week, further damaging a turbine operated by Vineyard Wind that made headlines last year when its blade fell off, polluting the ocean and nearby beaches. “The coverup blows on. Vineyard Wind’s lack of transparency around the structural integrity of its mammoth wind turbines is deeply frustrating to fishermen,” said Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association. “In fact, Vineyard Wind officials met in February with officials from the Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement to discuss improving communications over safety issues. Foreign offshore wind developers seem breezily dismissive of commercial fishermen,” he added. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:15
Broken Vineyard Wind Turbine Struck by Lightning
The same Vineyard Wind turbine blade that snapped in half last summer now appears to have been struck by lightning, according to the company and the U.S. Coast Guard. On Sunday, officials confirmed that the turbine at the southernmost end of the Vineyard Wind lease off Martha’s Vineyard was apparently hit by lightning late last week, damaging the already broken blade. The Coast Guard reported a strike occurred on Feb. 27, and it was working with Vineyard Wind to ensure there were no navigational hazards in the area. Vineyard Wind, in a statement Sunday afternoon, said a preliminary inspection indicated that the blade had been hit by lightning, and the company was continuing to assess the damage. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:52
‘Relief’ for some, ‘dark moment’ for others: Communities react to Trump’s offshore wind order
Amid a flurry of executive actions on his first day in office, President Donald Trump sought to put the brakes on offshore wind, halting the federal permitting of wind farms and wind-energy leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf. Members of New Bedford’s scallop fleet — a lucrative fishery that has made the city the top-value fishing port in the country — welcomed Trump’s order. “We finally have been listened to, by someone in an administration,” said Eric Hansen, who owns two New Bedford scallop vessels. “We’ve been fighting wind power for quite some time, and everything seems to be fast-tracked. Now they’re going to take a pause and really look at it.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:51
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Challenge Of Vineyard Wind
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the challenge of Vineyard Wind brought by the Nantucket-based nonprofit ACK For Whales, effectively ending the group’s legal effort to stop or delay the wind farm under construction southwest of the island. The effort to bring its case to the nation’s highest court was a long shot – as the U.S. Supreme Court accepts only 2 percent of the 7,000 cases brought to it each year – and on Monday the court informed ACK For Whales that it had declined to hear its petition for certiorari. ACK For Whales had alleged that the federal agencies that permitted the Vineyard Wind project violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that the project’s construction likely would not jeopardize the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The group also asserted that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on a “flawed analysis” from the National Marine Fisheries Service. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:35
Experts say Trump is right yet all wrong on whale deaths
It is the first commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in the U.S. But is Vineyard Wind, under construction off the coast of Massachusetts, contributing to an increase in whale strandings? That’s what President-elect Donald Trump suggested at a Tuesday press conference, as he vowed to stop new offshore wind farms during his administration. “You see what’s happening up in the Massachusetts area with the whales,” Trump said. “They had two whales wash ashore in a 17-year period. And now they had fourteen this season. The windmills are driving the whales crazy.” Actually, what may be driving the whale’s crazy is the noise generated by the construction of the wind farm. It involves the placement of 62 turbines, one nautical mile apart. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<<08:01
Fishermen may not like offshore wind, but some work for it
The blue-hulled scalloper, built in 1997, started out as a tender boat, transporting loads of fish between vessels and processing facilities. After a few years catching tuna, the vessel brought in over a million pounds of scallops over its life. But times, regulations and fish stocks have changed. The bivalves are still relatively lucrative, but vessels have spent more and more days sitting at the docks while expenses have risen. So two years ago, Alvernaz, the part-owner of six scallopers, put aside his personal feelings and did something he never thought he’d do: He signed up to work for an offshore wind company. In about two years, Vineyard Wind has paid about $8 million to local fishermen and vessel owners — many from New Bedford, like Alvernaz — to provide safety and security work during the wind farm’s construction (a figure that includes fuel costs). Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:16
The Dark Side “Green” Energy Make Nuclear Power the Obvious Choice for Maine’s Future
Maine has been treated to a near non-stop barrage of demands that we acquiesce to the lucrative demands of the Nuclear Power and solar panel lobbies for the sake of saving the environment. As the 132nd Legislature begins to consider the likely slew of proposals related to industrialized Nuclear Power and a further expansion of the farm-land devouring solar subsidy program, we must keep in mind the health implications as well as the theoretical benefits. As a member of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee, I am compelled to highlight the potential risks these technologies pose to our environment and public health, risks that demand a serious reconsideration of Maine’s current energy policies. Offshore wind turbines, often hailed as a green solution, are shedding microplastics into our marine environments. In some cases, such as with the recent 300-foot Vineyard Wind turbine blade that exploded near Cape Cod, the pollution is obvious. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< by Reagan Paul 10:27
Vineyard Wind and DOJ dispute ACK For Whales Supreme Court case
ACK For Whales is steadfast in their belief that their case against Vineyard Wind and federal agencies should be heard by the Supreme Court. Judges at the state and federal level have already dismissed their arguments in court twice the last two years, but that doesn’t mean their case doesn’t deserve to be heard by the highest court in the land, according to court filings from the local opposition group filed earlier this month. “That this petition focuses on only one aspect of the agency’s shortcomings . . . its failure to consider the cumulative impacts of other known, authorized, planned, and soon-to-be-approved projects—does not render this petition unworthy of review by (the Supreme Court). And that the First Circuit gave short shrift to (ACK For Whales’) arguments, including this one, equally does not render this petition unworthy of review,” reads a reply to critiques from federal agencies and Vineyard Wind filed Dec. 20. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:22
Vineyard Wind Restarts Installing Turbine Blades
Vineyard Wind began reinstalling turbine blades on its turbines over the weekend for the first time since one blade broke off into the ocean earlier this year. Vineyard Wind and its turbine manufacturer GE Vernova resumed the blade installation on Saturday, installing three blades, according to Vineyard Wind and government officials. The construction marks the first blade work in five months after one doubled over and scattered thousands of pieces of debris into the water in July. Nantucket town officials, who have been closely following the development of offshore wind to the island’s south, notified residents Friday that construction would be starting the following day. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:57
Vineyard Wind Withstands Another Legal Challenge
Another attempt to halt Vineyard Wind through the courts fell short last week when a federal court dismissed an appeal by a fishermen’s organization and a Rhode Island seafood dealer. A panel of judges with the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision on Dec. 5, saying the group’s claims that the federal government mishandled the approval process for the wind farm were unfounded. The decision is one of several that Vineyard Wind, which aims to build 62 turbines to the south of the Island, has weathered in recent years, keeping the project’s approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management intact. Seafreeze Shoreside, a Rhode Island-based seafood dealer, the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and other groups filed the appeal after their claims were rejected by the U.S. District Court in Boston in 2023. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:47
The largest offshore wind energy farm causes shock: The strange effect caused by one of its turbines
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm, planned to be the largest offshore wind farm worldwide, recently became the news headline, but not in the way expected. Notably, a recent major failure of turbines has caused people to pay attention to the project and ask questions. On August 22, a catastrophic blade failure was experienced on one of the turbines at the Dogger Bank A section, which is still under construction. GE Vernova, the manufacturer of the turbines, said that this failure was not due to installation or manufacturing defects but occurred during the commissioning process. The Dogger Bank incident is similar to a blade problem in the year at a turbine owned by GE Vernova in the United States. These recurrent problems indicate that manufacturers and engineers must enhance the installation procedure and working standards to achieve turbine durability. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:445
Donald Trump Pledges to Halt Big Wind Subsidies
Donald Trump’s election victory is quickly taking the wind out of the Biden administration’s ambitious renewables initiatives. President-elect Trump promised to end federal subsidies for offshore wind projects on his first day in office. As with many of his campaign pledges, Americans wait to see whether he will deliver. However, the market did not wait to see. Stock prices of offshore wind developers and turbine makers moved sharply downward following election day as investors query whether windmill projects are economically viable without the hefty federal subsidies Trump has promised to terminate. Environmental groups and fishermen have also raised concerns about the potential ecological trade-offs of this plastic-based technology and worries about ecotoxins created in the manufacturing of solar panels and EVs have caused consumers to pause. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:22
GOP Lawmakers, Fishermen Urge Trump to Keep Promise to Axe Offshore Wind
Trump’s return to the Oval Office may deal the problem-riddled offshore wind industry another blow if his administration follows through on his pledge to scrap federal support for offshore wind projects during his second term. Republican lawmakers, opposed to heavily subsidized green energy, and commercial fishermen, who view the industry as an existential threat to their livelihoods, are calling on the president-elect to follow through on his campaign’s promise, which could imply ending federal subsidies and lease sales for the industry. “The incoming administration has an historic opportunity to save American workers from foreign developers, reinvigorate iconic coastal towns, and improve America’s food security,” NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman said in a press release following Trump’s election win. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:54
More Vineyard Wind blades must be removed, repaired
Vineyard Wind 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. >more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:48
Pickup of seabed debris at Vineyard Wind broken turbine underway
Work is underway to recover debris that sank to the seafloor below Vineyard Wind’s AW-38 turbine when the blade broke apart in July, according to GE Vernova, the company that manufactures and installs the turbine parts. Efforts began on Sunday and were ongoing as of Tuesday afternoon. It’s been three months since one of the three football field-sized blades on turbine AW-38 collapsed, sending pieces of fiberglass, rigid foam and balsawood crashing into the ocean. Large pieces immediately sank, but other debris of varying sizes washed ashore on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, parts of Cape Cod and along Narragansett Bay for weeks afterwards. Some beach walkers are still reporting finding small remnants. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:33
Maine Unions Lead on the Green Energy Transition
Maine’s fifteen years long OSW policy debates have been hobbled by entrenched opposition from Maine’s lobstermen. It would also be impossible to convince politicians to pass an OSW law that was oblivious to the interests of Maine’s lobstermen. Governor Mills and her team reached out to Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), but they did not break through the impasse. The MLA continues to oppose OSW by arguing about potential impacts “on the marine environment, commercial fishermen and our fishing heritage.” MLA’s opposition has grown stronger in the past few years under the influence of New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), which is orchestrating conservative anti-OSW campaigns across the East Coast. To break this logjam, the MLCC worked with the country’s only lobstering union, Lobster 207. Though a small fraction of Maine lobster fishers are unionized, the lobstering union has a crucial role in advocating for improved working conditions within the lobstering industry. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:50
Right whales and offshore wind: reflections on an uneasy coexistence
Michael Moore has spent decades studying North Atlantic right whales. He’s seen somewhere around 150 of them. It’s a feat, given that now there are just about 360 left in the world. But the veterinarian, author, and scientist emeritus from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution had never seen an offshore wind farm up close — until last week. “Look at them. All out in neat little rows,” he said, standing at the rear of a 53-foot charter boat that offered a closeup view of construction on Vineyard Wind, 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. About half of the planned 62 turbines are fully constructed, reaching more than 250 meters into the sky. When the boat slowed down to pass beneath one of the turbines, Moore was awestruck by the length of a blade. “Right whales are 40 to 50 feet,” he said. “So, you can stretch seven right whales along the length of one of these blades.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:48
Fishermen Taking Aim At Offshore Wind Projects Across Texas
Fishermen are taking aim at offshore wind projects across Texas and the United States. On the same day that the Biden Administration pulled the plug on the second lease auction of a major proposed offshore wind project near the LA-TX border, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it had been approached by “Hecate Energy Gulf Wind LLC (Hecate Energy) to acquire commercial wind energy lease(s) on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico.” This potential project would transform thousands of aquatic acres into a wind farm. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 17:04
New England Fishermen Stage Floating Protest at Vineyard Wind Site
I am continuing to keep an eye on the Vineyard Farms offshore blade failure near Nantucket. A few weeks ago, the facility was closed because of the failure of Vineyard Wind’s newly installed wind turbines, and the city was poised to sue. After one blade failed and ended up in the water, the beaches were cluttered with sharp fiberglass shards, which is a sub-optimum condition at the height of the summer tourist season. The vessels, hoisting anti-offshore wind flags and blasting air horns, departed early Sunday morning from ports in New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and along the Cape, converging at about noon on the site of the crippled Vineyard Wind turbine. “The blade collapse was an eye-opener to a lot of people who before didn’t know that offshore wind is a disaster for the ocean,” said Shawn Machie, 54, who is captain of the New Bedford scalloper F/V Capt. John. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:36
New NOAA opinion: Wind farm pile driving causing “temporary disturbance” causing “temporary disturbance”
The federal government has issued a new “biological opinion” on Vineyard Wind’s offshore energy project 14 miles southwest of Nantucket, finding that pile-driving noise associated its construction is likely to adversely affect, but not likely jeopardize, the continued existence of whales, fish and sea turtles listed under the Endangered Species Act. “It will have no effect on any designated critical habitat,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any Endangered Species Act listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:01
‘We’ve Been Steamrolled’: Fishermen Protest Offshore Wind Following Turbine Failure That Shed Debris Into Atlantic
Scores of fishermen took to the seas Sunday to protest offshore wind developments after a damaged wind blade scattered toxic debris off the coast of Massachusetts. The blade, a part of the Vineyard Wind development, broke on July 13, spilling Styrofoam, fiberglass and other debris, some of which ended up on Nantucket’s pristine beaches. The flotilla protested the effects of offshore wind on fish stocks and ocean navigation, with roughly 20 ships making a sixty-mile round trip from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the site of the broken turbine, Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) and captain of the fishing vessel Teresa Marie. “Vineyard Wind was supposed to be one of the premier offshore wind locations in the United States, and it failed before it even got started,” Leeman said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:04
Wind Power: Broken Blades and (Maybe) Green Gouging
Say what you will about wind turbines, the steampunk wing of our glorious renewable future, their most dramatic failures have an epic quality about them — the toppling, the crumpling, the buckling, the bits and pieces flying through the air. The owner-operators of the two farms — Equinor for Empire and Orsted for Sunrise — are two of the top five global wind-farm investors and operators. They presumably know what they are doing, have access to attractively priced capital, good supply chains, and so on. In the last week, there has been a lot of talk from Democrats about greedflation, a convenient myth. They might want to turn their attention to greenflation, which is not, and indeed to any evidence of “gouging,” another of their supposed concerns, in this area. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:28
Fishing Flotilla Protests at Still-Damaged Vineyard Wind Turbine as Debris Continues to Wash Ashore
A flotilla of fishermen from across the East Coast gathered yesterday near the site of a damaged Vineyard Wind turbine to protest the perceived risks posed by offshore wind projects to the ocean and maritime communities. The protest, which also included a “Hands Across the Beach” demonstration on shore, highlighted growing concerns among fishermen about the impact of large-scale wind farms on their livelihoods and the environment. Vineyard Wind, which has been constructing towering turbine structures off the coast, has faced increasing criticism from local fishing communities. The concerns have escalated following a turbine blade failure in July that left fiberglass debris in the surrounding waters. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:53
Wind Turbine Blade Fails on GE Vernova Turbine at UK Dogger Bank Wind Farm
A blade on one of the wind turbines at the under-construction Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of England failed yesterday, August 22. Details on the incident are sparse at this point and neither GE Vernova, manufacturer of the blade, nor SSE Renewables the spokesperson for the consortium behind the project are commenting. This is the second failure of a blade at the UK wind farm although the companies blamed the prior one on a problem during installation. The wind farm however is also using the 13 MW GE Halidale-X turbines, the same manufacturing that confirmed a “manufacturing deviation,” causing a blade at Vineyard Wind 1, a U.S. offshore wind, to break apart in July. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:27
Van Drew Holds Third Hearing on ‘Offshore Wind Industrialization’
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02), supported by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10), held a field hearing in Brigantine on Tuesday, Aug. 13, to continue his public opposition to the Garden State’s efforts to build large offshore wind farms off the New Jersey coast. Brigantine Mayor Vince Sera played host for the hearing and introduced the event by calling offshore wind “one of the most important issues facing us on the East Coast.” He said state and federal officials pushing the offshore wind agenda “lied to us” in order to move ahead with projects that “make no sense.” Sera’s remarks set the tone of a meeting that was uniformly against the current offshore wind agenda. Picking up on those remarks Van Drew described the long oceanfront along the New Jersey coast as “a gift from God,” which he asserted is being squandered so a few people can make money off it. “That is what this is all about,” Van Drew added. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:57
Shattered Wind Blade Puts Nantucket on Frontlines of a Clean-Energy Fight
Weeks after a busted wind turbine washed onto Nantucket shores, residents of this wealthy Massachusetts enclave are still angry. Some even liken the accident to an oil spill. While their ire belies the fleeting nature of the event — waters were re-opened for swimming within 24 hours — the sense of harm felt by the community threatens to cast a long shadow. Vineyard Wind’s project south of Nantucket is the fledgling industry’s marquee venture, heralding a massive buildout of wind energy that would provide coastal cities with zero-carbon electricity. What happens here could have implications for a raft of other projects planned off Martha’s Vineyard, Atlantic City and elsewhere on the Eastern seaboard. “The great Nantucket experiment gets an F-minus,” says Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Leary Ventures and an investor on the reality show Shark Tank who visits Nantucket every summer. “It’s not a golden example of success in wind turbines, that’s for sure.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:24
Crawlers to Inspect Blades After Vineyard Wind Failure
Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova on Friday released a plan outlining the steps to be followed after a turbine blade failure last month at the Vineyard Wind offshore project off the coast of Massachusetts, which left potentially dangerous debris on beaches on the island of Nantucket. Vineyard Wind, the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, was shut down by federal authorities after the turbine blade failure. The plan outlines the steps to be followed to recover the remainder of the blade on the turbine. It has been developed in consultation the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard, the companies said in a statement. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
Vineyard Wind turbine debris makes it to Cape Cod
Debris from the failed Vineyard Wind Turbine has washed ashore in Falmouth, town officials said, weeks after a blade broke off and fell into the ocean. The turbine, manufactured by GE Vernova and part of the Vineyard Wind project, failed on July 13. The debris has scattered across nearby beaches, angering residents on Nantucket. A preliminary investigation by GE found that the failure was due to a manufacturing deviation. In a statement, Falmouth says it found what they believe to be wind turbine debris in the water and on the shoreline at Black Beach, Cahpoquoit Beach, Woodneck Beach, and Old Silver Beach. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:51
