“Because of that, we’re going to use our existing data and re-inspect all of the blades that we have made for offshore wind,” Strazik told investors. The factory has produced about 150 blades total, he said, and likened the task before the company to giving each one an ultrasound. “So that gives you an indication and context of the work ahead.” He added that he has a “high degree of confidence” that the company can get it all done, but declined to speculate on how long it would take.
I reached out to GE Vernova to ask how many blades from the Gaspé plant have been installed at Vineyard Wind 1 but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
Blade production at the factory is on pause while the investigation continues. The executives also stressed that the incident was unrelated to a blade failure at the Dogger Bank wind farm in the U.K., which was due to “an installation error out at sea.” Installation is ongoing at Dogger Bank.
Meanwhile, on the ground and in the water around Nantucket, crews from Vineyard Wind and GE continued to collect blade debris on Wednesday morning, for the ninth day straight. An initial environmental assessment of the blade debris published late Tuesday night began to answer key questions about the risks all that debris poses to people and marine life.
The report was commissioned by GE and conducted by Arcadis US, an engineering and environmental consultancy. It asserts that the primary risk to people is injury from the sharp edges of fiberglass fragments and that the debris “are considered inert, non-soluble, stable, and nontoxic.” It also cautions, however, that further evaluation will be required to understand the risks posed by any blade materials that remain in the environment, such as assessing the potential for degradation.
One particularly concerning question has been whether the debris could discharge dangerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” into the environment. Though there are no PFAS used in the blade construction itself, the firm did identify the chemicals in “aerodynamic add-ons,” small 6 inch by 8 inch pieces of plastic that are installed on the outside of the blade to improve its efficiency that are also commonly used on airplanes, it said.
According to the report, the total amount of PFAS on one blade equals 28.2 grams, or about 0.06 pounds. To put that in perspective, the chemical company Daikin once estimated it would release roughly 200 pounds of PFAS per day into the wastewater at one of its paper mills, according to federal filings obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund in 2018. It’s not yet clear how many of those plastic “add-ons” made it into the ocean.
A comprehensive list of all materials that make up the blades shows that more than half, by weight, is fiberglass. The other key ingredients include carbon fiber and PET foam, a common construction material. “There are 33 different materials involved in the production of a turbine blade, from the most basic common household adhesives to the more complex industrial materials used to build the blade,” the report says.
An introduction to the report notes that GE is creating an inventory of the debris collected to assess how much of the blade has been recovered. The company has also hired Resolve Marine, a marine salvage firm, to aid in dismantling the remainder of the blade that’s still attached to the turbine, though it didn’t offer a timeline for this work.
Executives from Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova will be attending a Select Board meeting in Nantucket Wednesday night. We’ll update this story with any additional information coming from that.
