As Vineyard Wind deals with the fallout from the Nantucket turbine incident earlier this month, they’re in federal appeals court this morning fighting to keep their permit.
As the cleanup and investigation continue into the Vineyard Wind incident earlier this month, and the project remains shut down, a "manufacturing deviation" is being blamed for a blade breaking off one of the turbines and sending debris onto Nantucket beaches.
"Some of the adhesives that are supposed to work for the blade did not do their job," said GE Verona chief sustainability officer Roger Martella. "And what we also found with the manufacturing deviation is that the inspection which should have caught this did not."
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At a Nantucket Select Board meeting Wednesday evening, the chair said they intend to renegotiate their Good Neighbor Agreement with Vineyard Wind and expect 100% transparency from manufacturer GE Verona going forward.
Nantucket Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr said that "Vineyard Wind must implement comprehensive measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future, and it is imperative that full restitution is provided for the damage caused."
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Coincidentally, Vineyard Wind is back in a federal appeals courtroom Thursday, fighting a motion to toss its permit, based on allegations that regulators failed to conduct any safety, engineering, or structural integrity reviews of the wind turbines, or fully consider its negative impact on the fishing industry in that area.
While the appeal is unrelated to the recent incident, Nantucket officials will no doubt be watching it closely to see what impact it may have on their situation.
"We are also demanding answers and better coordination from our state and federal partners who have regulatory responsibilities to keep Nantucket Island and our ecosystem safe from such incidents in the future," said Mohr.
A GE representative said they are in the process of inspecting all turbines.
