{"id":337011,"date":"2024-07-20T08:32:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=337011"},"modified":"2024-07-20T08:32:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T06:32:09","slug":"vineyard-wind-catastrophic-failure-sharp-fiberglass-shards-close-nantucket-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=337011","title":{"rendered":"Vineyard Wind: Catastrophic Failure (\u2018sharp fiberglass shards\u2019 close Nantucket beaches)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s offshore wind ambition, not only Vineyard Wind, is going the way of the EV debacle. It is time to end the charade, even before the Presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

All the current political news is keeping this week\u2019s implosion of the fledgling U.S. offshore wind industry off the front pages. \u201cVineyard Wind shut down after turbine failure sends \u2018sharp fiberglass shards\u2019 onto Nantucket beaches,\u201d reported<\/a> CBS News out of Boston. The worst case event could spell the end of another Biden anti-economic, anti-ecology \u201cclimate\u201d program, with only the 132 MW South Fork Wind project off the coast of Long Island under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, was at the 10-turbine, 136 MW mark of a planned 62 turbines totaling 806 MW. GE Wind (formerly Enron Wind), the blade-maker, is in trouble too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reported<\/a> Newport Buzz:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Operations at Vineyard Wind have come to a screeching halt after a catastrophic incident over the weekend scattered wind blade debris across Nantucket Sound and shut down Nantucket beaches, federal safety officials announced Tuesday. They stated that work at Vineyard Wind is \u201cshut down until further notice.\u201d\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported a \u201cturbine blade failure incident\u201d at the Vineyard Wind 1 site on Saturday, a revelation that Vineyard Wind reluctantly disclosed Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were no injuries reported, but operations are shut down until further notice,\u201d a BSEE spokesperson stated. \u201cBSEE is coordinating with the United States Coast Guard and state officials to ensure comprehensive information sharing. A team of BSEE experts is onsite to work closely with Vineyard Wind on an exhaustive analysis of the incident and the necessary next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a move to mitigate the fallout, the company and the U.S. Coast Guard have established a 500-meter safety zone around the compromised turbine, situated approximately 15 miles south of Nantucket and Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It was a worst-case event impacting tourism and beachgoers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Nantucket\u2019s harbormaster reacted swiftly, closing the island\u2019s southern beaches to swimming on Tuesday morning. The harbormaster\u2019s office warned via social media about \u201clarge floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards,\u201d urging beachgoers, \u201cYou can walk on the beaches, but we strongly recommend wearing footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The repercussions of the failure were starkly visible as pieces of fiberglass and foam from the broken blade littered Nantucket\u2019s south shore beaches. Each blade at the wind farm stretches roughly 350 feet from tip to turbine, underscoring the scale of the debris spread.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden Administration\u2019s offshore wind ambition, not only Vineyard Wind, is going the way of the EV debacle. With only one other project in construction, the offshore 30,000 MW goal by 2030 is in shambles. Yet the U.S. Department of Energy claims<\/a>, \u201cThe U.S. offshore wind industry is currently in its infancy, but based on all this progress, a sizable growth spurt is just beyond the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vineyard Wind should have never happened. Ever since it was proposed in 2018, the government-enabled project has encountered<\/a> environmental opposition in addition to ratepayer concerns. Other offshore wind projects are radically uneconomic<\/a> (including from the \u2018wake effect<\/a>\u2018); environmentally intrusive (pile driving<\/a>, a<\/a>vian mortality<\/a>) and are open targets for weather-related destruction. It is time to end the charade, even before the Presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s offshore wind ambition, not only Vineyard Wind, is going the way of the EV debacle. It is time to end the charade, even before the Presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":337013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818301,691818864,691829766,691829763],"class_list":{"0":"post-337011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-offshore-wind","9":"tag-the-biden-administration","10":"tag-turbine-failure","11":"tag-vineyard-wind","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Vineyard-Wind-Infographic.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1pFF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":407319,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=407319","url_meta":{"origin":337011,"position":0},"title":"Biden Admin Streamlined Path For Offshore Wind Boondoggles Despite Internal Red Flags","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Biden administration granted major offshore wind projects financial breaks despite internal warnings of increased risks to taxpayers, according to documents obtained by the watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI).","rel":"","context":"In \"Biden Administration\"","block_context":{"text":"Biden Administration","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biden-administration"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMOwAK-ZyBxmofc0i-gmdXPiD43qTjtP8EvlJ2dQ1PWGRn-C-1X91qDo8ZZpXIoqduP-u57ZSIjkJFYhjnCUONmqQFBpgtLhPEUDXtRLqxY8pkmVISrwASAZ6iPysuCFg86vDNuQsWD-vTcmLBez6uQtHet.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMOwAK-ZyBxmofc0i-gmdXPiD43qTjtP8EvlJ2dQ1PWGRn-C-1X91qDo8ZZpXIoqduP-u57ZSIjkJFYhjnCUONmqQFBpgtLhPEUDXtRLqxY8pkmVISrwASAZ6iPysuCFg86vDNuQsWD-vTcmLBez6uQtHet.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMOwAK-ZyBxmofc0i-gmdXPiD43qTjtP8EvlJ2dQ1PWGRn-C-1X91qDo8ZZpXIoqduP-u57ZSIjkJFYhjnCUONmqQFBpgtLhPEUDXtRLqxY8pkmVISrwASAZ6iPysuCFg86vDNuQsWD-vTcmLBez6uQtHet.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMOwAK-ZyBxmofc0i-gmdXPiD43qTjtP8EvlJ2dQ1PWGRn-C-1X91qDo8ZZpXIoqduP-u57ZSIjkJFYhjnCUONmqQFBpgtLhPEUDXtRLqxY8pkmVISrwASAZ6iPysuCFg86vDNuQsWD-vTcmLBez6uQtHet.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AQMOwAK-ZyBxmofc0i-gmdXPiD43qTjtP8EvlJ2dQ1PWGRn-C-1X91qDo8ZZpXIoqduP-u57ZSIjkJFYhjnCUONmqQFBpgtLhPEUDXtRLqxY8pkmVISrwASAZ6iPysuCFg86vDNuQsWD-vTcmLBez6uQtHet.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":294725,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294725","url_meta":{"origin":337011,"position":1},"title":"Energy Lease Hypocrisy: Biden Uses Taxpayer Protections to Prop Up Wind, Gut Oil","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"What constitutes a \u201cproven technology\u201d with \u201cpredictable income\u201d to the Biden administration? Apparently, it isn\u2019t the oil and gas industry that has been powering the world, raising standards of living, and making entire nations wealthy for well over a century.","rel":"","context":"In \"Big Oil\"","block_context":{"text":"Big Oil","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=big-oil"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-2-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-2-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-2-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-2-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-2-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":358413,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=358413","url_meta":{"origin":337011,"position":2},"title":"Vineyard Offshore Halts Major Wind Project Amid Economic and Policy Challenges","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/23\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The offshore wind industry faced another setback as Vineyard Offshore announced the withdrawal of an 800 MW wind energy project from Massachusetts\u2019 procurement process. 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