"You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches."
Broken Wing
Over the weekend, a 360-foot blade of a wind turbine off the shore of Nantucket shattered, leading to "large floating debris and fiberglass shards" threatening local beachgoers.
On Wednesday, the federal government ordered the responsible Vineyard Wind farm to shut down. Meanwhile, according to CBS News, six local beaches had to be closed.
"You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches," the Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey warned in a statement.
Understandably, local residents are furious. During a Wednesday public hearing, members of the public chastised Vineyard Wind representatives and its CEO Klaus Meller.
"You didn’t wake up with all this shit washed up on the beach, we did," local lobsterman Dan Pronk said, as quoted by local newspaper The Inquirer and Mirror, accusing the company of turning a blind eye. "What is going to keep this from happening again? What’s going to happen when there’s a hurricane?"
Good morning from Vineyard Wind turbine AW38.
This is the damaged turbine blade that has sent thousands of pieces of fiberglass & foam core onto Nantucket’s south shore.
The damaged blade is now in danger of detaching and falling into the sea. More debris came loose last night pic.twitter.com/oBA3FUXxKJ
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) July 18, 2024
Fiberglass Beach
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has forced Vineyard Wind to cease all operations until further notice as it's investigating the mishap.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt when chunks of one of the company's wind turbines' blades broke off. Meteorologists believe wind gusts and a lightning storm may have been responsible.
"The blade experienced a breakage approximately 20 meters out from the root," Vineyard Wind spokesman Craig Gilvarg told the Nantucket Current. "The turbine was in its commissioning phase and was still undergoing testing. Nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine and has not fallen into the water."
A picture shared by the newspaper showed the shattered blade barely hanging on to the rest of the structure some 15 miles off the coast.
"Vineyard Wind is fully committed to a swift and safe recovery of all debris, with an unwavering focus on community safety and environmental protection," the company wrote in a statement. "As part of its immediate action plan, Vineyard Wind communicated with officials on Nantucket to inform them of the presence of debris and recovery efforts on the southern-facing beaches of the island."
Footage showed backhoes dragging massive green and white chunks of fiberglass across a sandy beach.
Meanwhile, the company is still planning to install 62 GE Haliade-X wind turbines in the area, each of which will reach 853 feet in the air.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, wind energy accounted for just over ten percent of US electricity generation last year, making it an important source of renewable energy.
More on wind energy: China Installs Giant Wind Turbine Built to Harness Power of Hurricanes
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