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Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Iberdrola’s US arm Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, has announced that it would be mobilising debris recovery teams to recover shards of a damaged blade from one of its wind turbines.
A Vineyard Wind turbine suffered blade damage on Saturday night. No one was hurt, but chunks of the blade began washing onto the beaches in the area in the days that followed prompting a total of six Nantucket beaches to be closed on Tuesday while crews worked to clean up large floating debris and fibreglass shards from the broken wind turbine blade.
The federal government has ordered the Vineyard Wind farm to shut down until further notice because of a turbine blade failure this weekend. The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement sent a team of experts onsite to work with Vineyard Wind to analyse the cause of the incident. GE, the turbine and blade manufacturer and installation contractor, will also be doing an investigation on the matter.
The cause of the break is still unknown but there were reports of bad weather in the area at the time of the incident, including gusty wind and lightning.
As of Tuesday, July 16, and continuing for several days, Vineyard Wind will deploy trained individuals to walk the southern-facing beaches to collect debris. Patrol teams will inspect the areas in the morning and evening.
Vineyard Wind deployed two teams of four individuals to Nantucket to remove debris. Fortunately, the debris consists of solely non-toxic fibreglass fragments ranging in size from small pieces to larger sections, typically green or white.
“Any potential debris washing ashore will be pieces 1 square foot (929 sq cm) or less, which should only be picked up and collected by patrol teams. Although the fibreglass fragments are not hazardous to people or the environment, Vineyard Wind recommends that only its employees or contractors collect and remove the debris,” the company said in a statement.
Teams will visit Miacomet Beach and the Southeastern tip of Nantucket, including Nobadeer Beach, Madequecham Beach, Pebble Beach, Tom Nevers Beach, Low Beach, and Sconset Beach, or other areas where debris may wash ashore.
So far, three large fragments of the blade have been recovered and the company will continue to monitor the offshore area for any floating debris with aerial overflights and vessel patrols.
The post Vineyard Wind starts debris recovery after wind turbine blade damage appeared first on Energy News Beat.
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