A Giant Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Breaks, Prompting Beach Closures

Debris from a damaged wind turbine blade has been washing up on the shores of Nantucket, Mass., prompting the closure of several beaches to swimmers and spurring an investigation into what caused the mishap.

The damage to the blade occurred on Saturday evening at Vineyard Wind, the country’s second large-scale offshore wind farm, which is 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. It’s still under construction but the first turbines began generating electricity in February.

The companies behind the project, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, plan to install a total of 62 turbines by the end of the year that could, at full strength, produce 800 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 400,000 homes.

The turbines being installed at Vineyard Wind are enormous, featuring 351-foot-long blades that can reach heights taller than the Eiffel Tower.

The damaged blade appeared to experience a break approximately 65 feet from its root, Craig Gilvarg, the communications director for Vineyard Wind, said in an email. The blade was still undergoing testing at the time. The company quickly recovered three large pieces from the ocean, he added, and “nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine and has not fallen into the water.”

It is unclear what caused the blade to break, but green and white debris as well as sharp fiberglass shards have been washing up on shore, and the Nantucket Harbormaster announced on Tuesday that six beaches on the south side of the island would be closed to swimmers. No injuries were reported.