As crews continue to clean up debris from a destroyed turbine blade at a Massachusetts wind farm and a federal agency investigates what went wrong, developers and renewable-energy advocates say the incident shouldn’t raise alarms at Revolution Wind in Rhode Island waters.
Construction work at Vineyard Wind, a 62-turbine project about 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island, was halted for nearly a month after the blade failure on one of the turbines in mid-July left splintered debris in the water and washing ashore on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod.
The developer received the partial go-ahead to resume construction on Aug. 13, although power production and the installation of more blades were not allowed while the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement investigates potential manufacturing defects.
Offshore wind opponents have pointed to the Vineyard Wind turbine damage as a cause for concern with at least one group calling for a moratorium on all turbine construction. But renewable-energy advocates say that turbine failures are rare and that traditional fuel sources pose far greater environmental and safety risks than offshore wind.
Chris Raia, a spokesperson for Revolution Wind LLC, said the project has been unaffected by the situation at Vineyard Wind, where there was a monthlong halt to construction.
Revolution Wind, located about 17 miles off Point Judith with up to 100 turbines planned, is owned and being developed by Orsted A/S and utility Eversource Energy and they have no involvement with Vineyard Wind.
Also, while the failed turbine blade at Vineyard Wind was manufactured by GE Vernova Inc., Revolution Wind will use blades made by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A.
“Orsted has over 30 years’ experience constructing and operating offshore wind projects, and we are applying this experience to the construction of Revolution Wind," Raia said.
However, Orsted, a Danish energy company, announced on Aug. 15 that the Revolution Wind project has been delayed by the construction of an onshore substation. The company pushed the operational start date for the wind farm from 2025 to 2026 and acknowledged there would be additional costs and loss of revenue related to the delay.
But in a statement, the company said the delay has no connection to the turbine damage at Vineyard Wind.
Larry Chretien, president of the Providence-based nonprofit Green Energy Consumers Alliance Inc., said the Vineyard Wind mishap could at most lead to increased safety measures during Revolution Wind’s construction.
“The developer is on the hook for solving these problems, and they’re very interested in making this project successful,” Chretien said. “They don’t get paid if it’s not working right.”
The state is banking on the offshore wind sector providing thousands of jobs and a big economic boost, but not everyone’s aboard. Seafreeze Fleet LLC, a North Kingstown-based fishing company, in 2023 filed a lawsuit attempting to halt Vineyard Wind.
And a Little Compton-based citizens group, Green Oceans, has also filed a lawsuit against Revolution Wind and the nearby South Fork Wind development. Following the Vineyard Wind blade failure, Green Oceans renewed calls for a stop to wind farm construction, with organization president Lisa Quattrocki Knight calling the incident evidence “that the permitting process [for offshore wind developments] is inadequate” in evaluating risks.
But Green Oceans has received its own criticism, with the Climate and Development Lab at Brown University last year releasing a report stating that the group uses “strategies of climate delay and misinformation.”
Chretien also dismissed the group’s call for a moratorium, adding that incidents associated with traditional fuel are more common and harmful than blade debris. “So we want to take the [Vineyard Wind] incident seriously but also realize it’s not a reason to stop building offshore wind projects,” he said.
