New wind farm near Nantucket shut down after 'blade failure' spews debris onto beaches



The largest commercial offshore wind farm in the United States has been temporarily shut down after a "blade failure incident" over the weekend dumped debris into the ocean near the Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, debris that soon made its way to nearby beaches.

Just seven short months ago, the wind farm owned by Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, began operating about 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind eventually plans to have 62 turbines in the area, but for now, just 10 are operational, contributing about 136 megawatts to the regional grid, WGBH reported.

'The people of Massachusetts shouldn’t be forced to spend their hard-earned money on precarious energy sources resulting in environmental cleanups and unreliable, unproven outcomes.'

These turbines are massive, reaching a height of over 850 feet. Each turbine is also outfitted with three blades that are longer than a football field.

On Saturday, one blade on one of the turbines "experienced a breakage approximately 20 meters out from the root," said Vineyard Wind spokesperson Craig Gilvarg. Despite the damage, the blade remains attached to the turbine.

Still, the "breakage" was enough to dump hundreds of blade fragments into the water. Gilvarg described this debris as "non-toxic fiberglass," but the Nantucket Harbormaster noted that these fiberglass shards are nevertheless "sharp." For this reason, Nantucket officials encouraged people to "wear appropriate footwear" when walking along the beaches and "to leave pets at home."

By Tuesday afternoon, the debris became such a problem that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced that "operations" of the Vineyard Wind farm had been "shut down until further notice." The island's south shore beaches were likewise closed as company crews worked to clean up the mess.

It hasn't been easy. As of Wednesday afternoon, six full truckloads of blade debris had been removed from the area, the AP reported, enough to allow the south shore beaches to reopen for swimming and other "recreational activities."

Thus far, no injuries have been reported. GE, the company which manufactures and installs the turbines, "will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident," Vineyard Wind said.

"We’re making progress in the debris recovery efforts and mobilizing even more resources on the island to hasten the cleanup as quickly as possible," said a statement from Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller. "The public can have confidence that we will be here as long as it takes to get the job done and make sure the beaches are cleaned up."

Despite the progress, residents and area officials are demanding answers. At a town Select Board meeting on Wednesday, evening, Select Board member Malcolm MacNab called out Vineyard Wind for the assertion that the debris was "non-toxic."

"It IS toxic material," he insisted.

"The whole thing upsets me."

Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is likewise "upset" by "the whole thing," including that turbines can suffer such a catastrophic breakdown after only a few months of use.

"There should be an immediate investigation to determine if the other current turbines are dysfunctional and the turbines in production," Craney told Blaze News. "The people of Massachusetts shouldn’t be forced to spend their hard-earned money on precarious energy sources resulting in environmental cleanups and unreliable, unproven outcomes."

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Report: Wind energy proves an unstable alternative as massive turbines continue falling over



The wind power initiatives championed by the Biden administration have been associated with various ecological harms. However, some of the gargantuan wind turbines that have been erected across the United States are reportedly falling over before having an opportunity to inflict a full lifetime of damage.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, wind turbines have been malfunctioning across the U.S. and Europe. The problems signaling the supposed energy alternative's instability range from component breakdowns to total collapses.

For instance, in January, a wind turbine owned by NextEra Energy Resources in Dodge County, Wisconsin, buckled and fell.

WISN-TV reported that the blades and a top portion of the 400-foot structure crashed to the ground, shaking a nearby home.

Mark Dietrich, whose father owns the property cratered by the green-energy shrapnel, said, "That's a lot of weight coming down at one time."

NextEra Energy Resources said in a statement, "We believe this was an isolated incident as turbine malfunctions are rare."

Only this was not an isolated incident, and similar collapses no longer appear to be rarities.

In December, a turbine that once supplied a modicum of energy to the Northport Leelanu Township Water Treatment plant in Michigan spun out of control. The wind it proved unable to harness threw it to the ground.

Bloomberg noted that another turbine, which had once stood taller than the Statue of Liberty, had not been in operation for more than a year when in June it collapsed 90 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

The same make of turbine collapsed in Colorado a few days later. As in the case of the Wisconsin collapse, it was owned by NextEra Energy.

In August, a massive wind turbine collapsed at the Traverse Wind Energy Center, again in Oklahoma. The New York Post indicated that the massive General Electric turbine "folded as if it was made of cardboard," seen here:

Watch: Oklahoma Wind Turbine No Match For Mother Nature youtu.be

Europe has observed similar failures, including the September 2021 collapse of a 784-foot turbine in Germany and another mammoth turbine in Lithuania in March 2022. These turbines are supposed to last 20 to 30 years.

In addition to scarring the land and threatening onlookers with falling debris, Bloomberg suggested that this trend of turbine collapses may make for more expensive insurance policies, amounting to a possible setback for the transition off reliable oil and gas.

Fraser McLachlan is chief executive of the London-based GCube Underwriting Ltd., which insures approximately $3.5 billion in wind assets in dozens of countries. McLachlan told Bloomberg, "We’re seeing these failures happening in a shorter time frame on the newer turbines, and that’s quite concerning."

If this trend continues, McLachlan indicated insurance premiums may skyrocket.

Between potential insurance hikes and supply chain squeezes, wind energy companies are growing increasingly concerned about profitability as well as the tenability of wind farm developments.

The cost of repairs only compounds the problem. General Electric reportedly had to spend $500 million in Q3 2022 to pay down warranty costs and repairs on its turbines.

GE is not the only wind energy company in the industry taking a hit. The other two top players, Vestas and Siemens Gamesa, are similarly suffering collapses.

Popular Mechanics reported that part of the problem is the race to produce bigger turbines with longer blades, some of which are longer than a football field. While 300-foot blades may capture more energy, they're also scaling up the problems that can occur and the damage that can be inflicted when they fail.

While manufacturers and climate alarmists may find this trend of collapsing wind turbines alarming, sea life and birds near the wrecks might enjoy the fleeting respite.

TheBlaze previously reported on a peer-reviewed study published in the Springer Nature Journal Communications Earth & Environment, which revealed that the negative effects of wind farms are "substantial."

The study indicated that "the ongoing offshore wind farm developments can have a substantial impact on the structuring of coastal marine ecosystems on basin scales."

Wind farms generate "an increase in sediment carbon in deeper areas of the southern North Sea ... and decreased dissolved oxygen inside an area with already low oxygen concentration."

The resultant changes in nutrient concentration could start "a cause-effect chain that translates into changes in primary production and effectively alters the food chain."

These changes might culminate in "severe" consequences affecting fish and seabird species, marine fauna, and other aspects of the environment that green activists purportedly care about.

A 2019 report from the international law firm White & Case indicated that wind farms in U.S. waters "have the potential to impact a wide range of marine life, including scallops, quahogs, clams, finfish, marine mammals and sea turtles."

Fishermen, legislators, and marine activists have recently called for an investigation into whether offshore wind farms are to blame for the recent string of whale deaths along the New Jersey-New York coast.

Extra to sea creatures, TheBlaze previously reported that turbines in the U.S. were shredding so many eagles that the Biden administration ended up having to propose a new permitting program whereby wind companies could get away with slaughtering them by the hundreds or thousands to dodge legal trouble.

The British Trust for Ornithology issued a report in 2019 noting a "reduction in annual adult [bird] survival of up to 5% following the construction of an offshore wind farm."

According to the U.S. Wind Turbine Database, there are at least 72,669 turbines in the United States with a total rated capacity of 138,386 megawatts.

As the turbines are retired or collapse prematurely over the next 20 years, the U.S. will be left with an estimated 720,000 tons of unrecyclable blade material to dispose of.

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Study: Offshore wind farms hyped by Biden administration have 'substantial impact' on ecosystem, marine life — not in a good way



In September, the Biden administration announced its "ambitious" plans to expand American offshore wind energy "while advancing environmental justice, protecting biodiversity, and promoting ocean co-use." A new study has cast significant doubt on whether the White House's plan and similar initiatives to tackle so-called climate change can be accomplished without creating some substantial negative environmental changes all their own.

In addition to impacting regional atmosphere, "multiple physical, biological, and chemical impacts on the marine system have been identified," all resultant of these "environmentally jus[t]" solutions.

Previously, researchers had only theorized about the impact of the wind wake effect offshore wind farms had on marine life and ocean conditions. A peer-reviewed study published in the Springer Nature journal "Communications Earth & Environment" revealed that the effects of these wind farms are "substantial."

What are the details?

The study examined the impact of wind farms in the North Sea, which lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Since the sea is shallow and the wind in the region is stable, the North Sea is a "global hotspot for offshore wind energy" and home to the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The study indicated that "the ongoing offshore wind farm developments can have a substantial impact on the structuring of coastal marine ecosystems on basin scales."

Wind farms generate "an increase in sediment carbon in deeper areas of the southern North Sea ... and decreased dissolved oxygen inside an area with already low oxygen concentration."

The resultant changes in nutrient concentration could start "a cause-effect chain that translates into changes in primary production and effectively alters the food chain."

For instance, "the estimated changes in organic sediment distribution and quantity could have an effect on the habitat quality for benthic species such as lesser sandeel ... and other benthic species that live in the sediments in the deeper areas of the southern North Sea."

For the marine ecosystem, these effects might be "severe" and may affect fish and seabird species, marine fauna, and other aspects of the environment.

The severity of wind farm's effects have been known for some time. A report carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology found "a reduction in annual adult [bird] survival of up to 5% following the construction of an offshore wind farm."

Townhall highlighted the claim in the study that "economically relevant fish stocks" could see these wind farms "impact the survival of fish early life stages in specific areas" as a result of "variations in the match-mismatch dynamics with their prey or as a consequence of low oxygen conditions."

The researchers noted that future offshore wind farm installations in the works will have substantial atmospheric and thermodynamic consequences, the full implications of which are presently unclear. However, "scenario simulations provide evidence that the increasing amount of future [offshore wind farm] installations will substantially impact and restructure the marine ecosystem of the southern and central North Sea."

Consequences in America

This study focused on the impacts of wind farms on ecosystems in and around the North Sea and did not speak to what potential environmental calamity might be wrought by the installations the Biden administration has proposed for the American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

A 2019 report from the international law firm White & Case indicated that wind farms in U.S. waters "have the potential to impact a wide range of marine life, including scallops, quahogs, clams, finfish, marine mammals and sea turtles."

In addition to these downsides to offshore wind energy, there is also the problem of the farms' construction.

TheBlaze previously reported that the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms generate a tremendous amount of pollution. For each 500 megawatt installation, between 12,571 and 18,857 barrels of marine fuel are consumed. That amounts to 1.2% the amount of fuel consumed yearly by Amtrak.

These installations also require maintenance over the course of their 20-year lifespans, which in turn involve the use of a great deal of fossil fuels.

As the turbines are retired over the next 20 years, the U.S. will be left with an estimated 720,000 tons of unrecyclable blade material to dispose of.

The climate alarmist publication Earth.org reported that "intrusive pile-driving, seismic profiling and trenching" during offshore wind farms' construction not only disturb fish larvae, increase noise levels, and cause sedimentation of the water, but also adversely impact mammals that rely on sound for predation, migration and communication."

FACT CHECK: Did The Heat Melt This Wind Turbine In Texas?

'The damage to the turbine was definitely NOT related to heat or high temperatures'