Thousands of hours devoted to arrive at safest approach to a successful operation
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — August 9, 2024 — Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova today released a public overview of their action plan designed to safely remove the remainder of the damaged blade on turbine AW-38, continue collecting any debris, and resume turbine installation and operations of the Vineyard Wind 1 project. The blade incident response and action plan, which outlines the steps the parties will follow to recover the remainder of the blade on the turbine, has been developed in consultation with the federal agencies including the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The plan is the result of thousands of hours devoted to the operation’s development, review, and testing; was intensively focused on the safety of personnel; and was evaluated against other alternatives to arrive at an approach for a successful operation that prioritizes safety.
“From the start of this event, our response has been focused on the safety of everyone involved,” said Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus S. Møller. “As we move forward to this next phase and begin removing the remainder of the damaged blade, we will continue to safeguard the public and the environment through our robust land, air and sea debris recovery system.
“Vineyard Wind is a critically important project for the region’s energy future, and delivering this project safely is our highest priority,” said Møller. “We believe we have the right plan in place to recover the rest of the blade, secure any debris offshore and onshore, and safely and responsibly resume the installation program so we can put this project back on track to deliver needed clean power to the New England region.”
“Our top imperative as a company is to work with our stakeholders on addressing the impacts of this blade event with thoroughness and urgency,” said GE Vernova Chief Sustainability Officer Roger Martella. “With safety first and foremost in our actions, our focus is on removing the remaining blade, assessing environmental and marine impacts, and executing a strong, three-point plan for blade performance so the project can succeed on its goals of providing sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy and jobs to New England.”
The plan to recover the remainder of the blade is a demonstration of the unity of effort that has marked the response to the initial blade incident. It was developed in full compliance with BSEE’s superseding order, and with oversight from the Federal Interagency. The blade removal operation entails four tasks developed in alignment with Resolve Marine, one of the world’s leading salvage companies: rotating the blade to reduce hanging blade and possible controlled cutting; removing the root of the blade from the hub; removing fallen debris from the platform; and addressing seabed debris.
As featured in today’s overview, GE Vernova has undertaken a Root Cause Analysis that has preliminarily determined that a manufacturing deviation is considered to be the primary root cause of the blade event, which should have been identified through the quality assurance process at the blade manufacturing facility. For an installed turbine at the Vineyard Wind project to begin or restart power production, the following criteria must be satisfied:
Re-review ultrasound photos: Re-process over 8,300 ultrasound testing (UT) records to determine whether bond requirements are satisfied. Any issues identified will be further inspected and corrective action taken as necessary.
Internal Visual inspection: Advanced remote-controlled wheeled drones called “crawlers” are inserted into the manufactured blades to allow for current-state visual inspection of the blades. Crawlers are equipped with video cameras that can capture photos and videos for review by technicians to examine critical blade elements. Any anomalies identified will be flagged for further review prior to service.
New ongoing real-time monitoring: GE Vernova is deploying a new algorithm, using existing fiber optic sensors already in the blade, and monitoring blade health designed to help avoid similar events. The algorithm will provide advanced warnings and/or automatic, safe turbine shutdown when triggered.
The overview also outlines Vineyard Wind’s plan ultimately to resume safe turbine installation and restart operations. No blades will be installed or used in operations until thoroughly inspected.
Since the blade event occurred on July 13, 2024, Vineyard Wind has been following its federally approved emergency response plan, tailoring it as needed for the specific situation. The project immediately activated its Incident Management Team (IMT), which has been trained in the federal Incident Command System. Vineyard Wind has established a rigorous debris recovery system under established safety protocols, utilizing a combination of vessel surveying, aerial monitoring, and US Coast Guard modeling, to track debris. The company has also established direct communication with Tribal Nations, federal, state, and local officials, and first responder agencies to provide notification of debris impacts.
Upon completion, Vineyard Wind is expected to generate electricity for the equivalent of powering roughly 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create approximately 3,600 full time equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers approximately $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and reduce carbon emissions by more than ~1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking approximately 325,000 cars off the road annually.
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