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NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — The maker of a massive wind turbine
blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on
beaches for months has agreed to a $10.5 million settlement to
pay local businesses for their economic losses, officials said
Friday.
Fiberglass fragments of the blade began washing ashore last
summer during the peak of tourist season after pieces of the
wind turbine at the Vineyard Wind project began falling into the
Atlantic Ocean in July 2024.
GE Vernova, which agreed to the settlement, blamed a
manufacturing problem at one of its factories in Canada and said
there was no indication of a design flaw. It reinspected all
blades made at the factory and removed other blades made there
from the Vineyard Wind location.
Crews in boats and on beaches, along with volunteers, collected
truckloads of debris. The company said the debris was nontoxic
fiberglass fragments and that the pieces were one square foot or
smaller.
The settlement calls for establishing a fund along with a
process to evaluate claims from businesses and distribute
payments, Nantucket officials said.
The development’s massive wind turbines with blades more than
328 feet (100 meters) long began sending electricity to the grid
at the beginning of 2024.
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