Company says manufacturing problem was behind wind turbine blade breaking off Nantucket Island

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — The maker of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on the beaches says a manufacturing problem was responsible.

GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said on an earnings call Wednesday that insufficient bonding at one of its factories in Canada was responsible for the blade coming apart and that there was no indication of a design flaw. As a result, the company will reinspect all 150 blades that had been made at the factory.

“To identify deviations, we are going to go and do this on every blade. Prudent, thorough process,” he told the call. “We’re not going to talk about the timeline today. We have work to do. But I have a high degree of confidence that we can do this.”

Parts of the blade, which is more than 100 meters (109 yards) long, began to fall into the ocean July 13 at the Vineyard Wind project and crews in boats and on beaches have been collecting truckloads of debris ever since. The company said that the debris consists of nontoxic fiberglass fragments and that any washing ashore are pieces of one square foot or less.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said last week that operations at Vineyard Wind have been suspended until it can be determined whether the “blade failure” impacts other turbine blades on the development.

“As GE Vernova continues the investigation into the root cause of the damage to its blade, Vineyard Wind 1 remains focused on coordinating with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, assisting in the recovery of debris, and prioritizing the safety of personnel, local communities, and the environment,” Craig Gilvarg, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and said no personnel or third parties were near the turbine when the damage occurred. It said in a statement that blade manufacturer and installation contractor GE “will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident.”

The development’s massive wind turbines began sending electricity to the grid this past winter. It said it will deploy trained individuals to collect the debris for the next several days