300-foot piece of broken wind turbine blade falls into Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket
NANTUCKET - The rest of a giant broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade fell into the sea off Nantucket, Massachusetts Thursday.
"Remaining portion" of turbine blade down
The town said in a statement that the "remaining portion of the blade had come down at approximately 6:40 AM."
The U.S. Coast Guard said they received a report of "a piece of debris, 300-feet in length" in the Atlantic Ocean. They warned all mariners in the area, just 15 miles south of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, to "use extreme caution" when passing through.
Now calling the Vineyard Wind turbine blade debris a “crisis,” the town of Nantucket shares that “Vineyard Wind vessels are collecting fiberglass pieces on the site; a very large piece of debris is below the surface, in the water
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) July 18, 2024
column.” pic.twitter.com/5U9gVXQf1p
The turbine, which broke on Saturday, is one of a dozen installed so far in the ocean. Each blade weighs more than 70 tons and is longer than a football field.
Parts of the damaged blade began washing ashore on Monday and Nantucket shut down several south facing beaches to clean up the broken foam and fiberglass shards.
There's no word yet on what caused the turbine to break. The federal government ordered the wind farm to shut down until further notice.
Large debris piece "below the surface"
"Vineyard Wind vessels are collecting fiberglass pieces on the site," the town of Nantucket said in a statement Thursday. "A very large piece of debris is below the surface, in the water column. Vineyard Wind is monitoring the location and status of that piece and hopes to retrieve it while it remains offshore. Vessels are also collecting smaller fiberglass pieces of debris at the turbine site."
The town said Vineyard Wind told them the "majority of the interior foam from the entire blade was released on Saturday."
"Despite these challenging weather conditions, a fleet of vessels remains at sea managing the situation and working to remove bulk debris. We have deployed additional crews to Nantucket Island in anticipation that more debris could wash ashore tonight and tomorrow as we continue to monitor additional coastal communities," Vineyard Wind said in a statement Thursday.
The company said they will remove the remaining blade attached to the damaged turbine.
If anyone finds debris from the turbine, they should call 833-609-5768.
Vineyard Wind farm turbines
The turbines are the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. It started providing power to New England back in January. A total of 62 turbines are expected to be installed. Once at full capacity, they're expected to provide enough energy for 400,000 homes, according to Vineyard Wind.