The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has allowed Vineyard Wind to resume certain limited additional activities at the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm site. These include the installation of towers and nacelles but not (yet) the installation of the wind turbine blades.
BSEE issued an update to the Suspension Order the federal agency issued on 17 July after a blade on one of the project’s GE Haliade-X turbines broke apart . The Order now enables the developer to continue some of the installation work but does not enable further blade installation or power production at this time.
The update follows Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova’s action plan which was put together in consultation with BSEE and other stakeholders.
The plan includes steps the two companies will take to remove the remainder of the damaged blade on the turbine AW-38, continue the collection of any debris, and resume turbine installation and operations.
On 13 August, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova said they had begun executing controlled cutting activities on turbine AW-38, substantially reducing the amount of the damaged blade that presents a risk for additional debris falling into the ocean.
Through controlled cutting operations that took place on 11 and 12 August “a substantial amount” of the remaining parts of the damaged blade was removed. During the operations, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova mobilised maritime crews on multiple vessels nearby to secure as much debris as possible for immediate containment and removal as well as land-based crews managing debris recovery, the developer says.
The two companies are currently assessing the next steps to complete any additional cutting necessary at the earliest opportunity, secure and remove the debris on the turbine platform, remove the blade root, and address the debris on the seabed, Vineyard Wind said on 13 August.