It’s been a month since a turbine blade at Vineyard Wind’s rental fractured, dumping moss, fiberglass and other debris into local waters, prompting considerations about the nascent offshore wind industry.
Although the full picture of what happened has not yet been made public, the federal government has legalized the resumption of some structures at the 62-turbine wind farm.
Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova announced on Tuesday, August 13, that the Bureau of Environmental Safety and Enforcement (BSEE) had legalized the resumption of “certain limited additional activities,” adding the installation of towers and nacelles; The nacelles space the gearbox and other components. The installation of new blades is part of the recently approved structural plan.
Meanwhile, the federal government allows Vineyard Wind to generate electricity.
The offshore wind company plans to ship several sections of the tower from the New Bedford Marine Industrial Terminal to the structure’s site aboard a Foss Prevailing Wind barge on Tuesday. The ship will also bring a three-blade “with the sole objective of guaranteeing a security and balanced composition for maritime transport”; The shovels will be returned to New Bedford later this week.
The United States Coast Guard maintains the 500-meter buffer zone around the damaged turbine.
The two corporations also began “controlled cutting” of broken turbine blades on Tuesday, according to a news release, “significantly reducing the number of broken blades that pose a threat of more debris falling into the ocean. “
Late last week, Vineyard Wind also released an “Action and Response Plan. ” The plan says a preliminary “root cause” investigation has been completed, which is being evaluated through Gulf Wind Technology, a Louisiana-based wind turbine engineering consulting firm.
BSEE is conducting its own investigation into the root cause of the incident.
The action plan was announced two days after representatives from Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova were questioned again through the Nantucket network at a recent board meeting, and the city expected there would be more debris on its shores. The most recent remains come from a “controlled detachment” of a component of the broken blade, the southernmost of the 24 turbine towers erected.
A review of the action plan states that the broken blade “involves 4 tasks”, adding the rotation of the blade and in all likelihood a “controlled cut”, the root of the blade from the turbine hub, the removal of fallen debris from the platform and the recovery of the debris. that sank to the bottom of the sea.
Vineyard Wind also plans to resume turbine structure and power generation, with “extensive coordination with government and local stakeholders. ”
It’s unclear when the Vineyard Wind project will be fully operational again. A spokesman for BSEE, the federal firm overseeing the response to the incident, did not immediately respond when contacted through the Times.
However, this will not begin until the current “three-point approach” through GE Vernova is completed. This includes re-examining more than 8,300 ultrasound photographs taken according to the sheet to measure the bond widths in the sheets, a remotely controlled “tracked” robot to take videos and images within the set of manufactured sheets and the use of a new set of rules to monitor the blades. fitness in real time.
Last month, GE Vernova revealed at a shareholder meeting that a production problem (or “insufficient bonding”) at a Canadian plant was the cause of the blade fracture.
GE Vernova’s initial investigation into the root cause of turbine blade fracture is being reviewed through BSEE. Federal officials and corporate representatives have shared the main points of the initial report.
“BSEE is lately benchmarking GE’s initial root cause investigation and cannot comment on this report at this time until we have conducted our own thorough investigation and assessment,” said Cheri Hunter, chief operating officer at BSEE. office of renewable energy, to the Nantucket Board of Directors hearing. an evening assembly on Wednesday, August 7.
Hunter said there is no timeline for when the company’s investigation will be completed lately. He also said that the company may simply require a marine debris recovery plan as a component of GE Vernova’s protective control system.
Roger Martella, GE Vernova’s chief sustainability officer, did not provide the main questions of the research at the Nantucket board meeting. However, he said inspections of the blades were ongoing, adding ultrasound to look for tension problems and a rover to move across the blades to take photographs. Additionally, Martella said the use of fiber optic sensors and algorithms would give the company hours or even days of response time if a similar incident occurs again.
Martella also said that while they had conducted an initial environmental assessment, conducted by a third party, they would also seek to focus on the effect of the debris on seafood and marine life.
Government officials are also the long-term effects of the incident on the marine ecosystem.
Wendy Heiger-Bernays, study leader for the Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Research and Standards, told the Nantucket assembly that while debris such as sharp fiberglass can be destructive to swimmers or boaters, it is unlikely that the hazardous turbine tissues may simply be detectable in the ocean, as they would have dissolved in the existing tides.
“It is very unlikely that there is a significant threat to. . . people or aquatic organisms as a result of direct exposure to the chemicals in these wastes [attributed] to this incident,” Heiger-Bernays said. The resolution adopted after comparing the incident, a report through the environmental engineering and consulting company Arcadis, and the list of turbine curtains. He said the state firm has also spoken with Nantucket officials about water quality studies.
Chrissy Petitpas, deputy assistant and seafood program director for the Division of Marine Fisheries, said the dangers to the Port of Nantucket are uncertain. However, the shellfish gave the impression of being harvested and eaten.
Petitpas noted that microplastics and PFAS have been studied in relation to seafood health. She said such contaminants have been discovered before in shellfish, especially around active shipyards, where fiberglass can be found. She said it was difficult to assess the effect on any other contaminants resulting from the incident or whether there is a greater risk.
However, Petitpas said weather situations that break down debris into smaller pieces can create hazards up the food chain. “That’s where long-term monitoring comes in,” he said.
Still, more studies will be needed, and the company will seek guidance from other government entities, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the state Department of Public Health.
“If there is a critical threat to public health in the future, we have the mechanisms in place to prevent shellfish harvesting,” Petitpas said.
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