Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, reported an “incident” occurred on Saturday regarding blade damage on one of its turbines.
Although Vineyard Wind has not yet clarified what the “incident” was, it said none of its employees or contractors were in the area at the time of the incident, and no injuries were reported. On Tuesday, the joint venture began mobilizing debris recovery teams on Nantucket to survey the southern-facing beaches of the island for the recovery of debris, and it continues to work with the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain a safety zone of 500 meters around the impacted turbine offshore.
GE, which produces the Haliade-X turbines used in Vineyard Wind, said it is conducting its own investigation of the incident, Cape Cod Times reported.
Vineyard Wind said it has successfully recovered three large fragments and will continue to monitor the offshore area for any floating debris with aerial overflights and vessel patrols. The joint venture said the fiberglass debris is non-toxic and ranges in size from pieces to larger sections, typically green or white in color. Any potential debris washing ashore will be pieces 1 square foot or less, Vineyard Wind said, which should only be picked up and collected by patrol teams.