A wind turbine blade has broken off the coast of Nantucket. The cause isn't clear, but the effect is: Debris has been washing up on the shores of the island, and federal authorities say operations at the Vineyard Wind project "are shut down until further notice," the Nantucket Current reports. Beaches on the island's south shore were closed to swimmers Tuesday morning after residents reported seeing fiberglass and pieces of green and white foam. "You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris," said Harbormaster Sheila Lucey.
Vineyard Wind, the country's second large-scale wind farm project, is still under construction but started generating electricity earlier this year, reports the New York Times. The turbines have blades 351 feet long. A rep for the company tells the Times that the damaged one broke around 65 feet from its root, but "nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine and has not fallen into the water." The company has deployed teams to pick up fragments from Nantucket beaches. It is also working with the Coast Guard to keep boats away from the damaged turbine.
The rep said the turbine "was in its commissioning phase and was still undergoing testing." The company described the debris as "non-toxic fiberglass fragments." It said they are "not hazardous to people or the environment," but people should let its recovery team handle the fragments instead of picking them up themselves. The company said GE, the blade maker and installation contractor, is investigating the cause of the incident. When completed, the project will have 62 turbines, each of them 853 feet high. So far, 19 have been completed and 10 are operational. (More wind turbines stories.)
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