The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) have completed the review and approved the revised Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm .
Last week, the federal government lifted the suspension on Vineyard Wind’s installation of the remaining GE Vernova wind turbines.
The new COP details the root cause analysis (RCA) conducted by the wind turbine manufacturer regarding the blade failure that occurred in July 2024.
The RCA found that there was insufficient bonding at certain locations within the blade, which should have been detected at the manufacturing plant through inspection and quality control procedures. After reprocessing of the manufacturing data from the installed blades, additional blades with insufficient bonding were identified.
BSEE directed Vineyard Wind to remove all blades manufactured at GE Vernova’s facility in Gaspé, Canada. The COP addendum includes removal activities at 22 locations, and pending further BSEE review, potentially two additional locations where blades from other manufacturing plants were installed.
The 800 MW offshore wind farm will comprise 62 GE Vernova’s Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbines , each with a 220-metre rotor and 107-metre blades.
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The removal activities may be conducted by the jack-up currently on site southwest of Nantucket (the Sea Installer ) and/or a second jack-up vessel.
In its new plan, Vineyard Wind said it will employ additional mitigation associated with blade installation and power production. One of these measures includes visually inspecting each installed blade before commencing power production.
In addition, each turbine will have a fully functional monitoring system capable of detecting and immediately notifying the operator of potential blade anomalies while the turbine is producing power, according to the COP.