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Repercussions from blade failure at Vineyard Wind


USA Offshore wind


Worries about an over rapid scale-up of wind turbines in offshore applications, and consequent reliability issues, have not been helped by the high profile blade failure on 13 July at Vineyard Wind 1. The wind farm, a joint venture of Avangrid (Iberdrola Group) and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, located off the coast of Massachusetts, is currently in the construction phase, with, as of end June, ten of its planned 62 GE Vernova Haliade-X wind turbines generating power.


Causing added embarrassment for the USA’s fledgling offshore wind industry is the fact that Vineyard Wind 1, with a planned installed capacity of 806 MWe, is the USA’s first large scale offshore wind farm (significantly larger than South Fork, at 132 MW, with 12 Siemens wind turbines, the country’s first utility scale offshore wind farm, completed in March 2024). Following the blade failure incident, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued a suspension order requiring power production to cease at all the Vineyard Wind turbines until it can be


determined whether the failure mechanism affects any other Vineyard Wind turbines. The order also suspends construction activities. The root cause of the failure in the 107 m long blade has yet to be determined and BSEE says it will “conduct an independent assessment to ensure the safety of future offshore renewable energy operations.” GE Vernova will also be carrying out a root cause analysis; it says “we are working with urgency to scrutinise our operations across offshore wind”, but “we are going to be thorough instead of rushed.” There have been, as might be expected, other instances of offshore wind turbine blade failure, for example in May at Dogger Bank in the UK; that was “caused by an installation error out at sea”, says GE.


Interestingly, GE Vernova recently decided to pull back from its proposed 18 MW Haliade offering and focus on 15.5 MW machines (upgradeable to 16.5 MW).


As of 20 July, Vineyard Wind said “significant progress” had been made in recovering blade debris, both in the water and deposited on the southern facing beaches of Nantucket.


According to GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazic, the Haliade-X blade failure was caused by a “manufacturing deviation” or “material deviation” at its blade factory in Gaspé, Canada, and there was no indication of “an engineering design flaw in the blade.” There also appears to be no connection with the Haliade-X blade failure that occurred at the Dogger Bank project.


The deviation at Gaspé should have been identified via the “inspection or quality assurance process”, he noted and “because of that, we’re going to use our existing data and re-inspect all of the blades that we have made for offshore wind.” GE brought its wind turbine blade manufacturing in-house in 2017 with the purchase of LM Wind Power.


Europe’s first 100% hydrogen–fuelled power plant


UK Hydrogen economy Essar Energy Transition has launched EET Hydrogen Power, Europe’s first hydrogen-ready combined heat and power plant. It is to be built at EET’s Stanlow refinery, with the aim of completing construction in 2027, and will support EET Fuels’ ambition to become the lowest carbon process refinery, globally as well as EET Hydrogen’s ambition to become the leading low carbon hydrogen producer in the UK. It will also provide low carbon power to other industrial users in the region. EET Hydrogen Power will become an independent vertical under EET.


It will be based at the EET Fuels’ Stanlow refinery, and is expected to be operating by 2027. It will purchase hydrogen from EET Hydrogen’s production plants and supply power and steam to the Stanlow refinery. EET Hydrogen Power will be developed over two phases to reach a capacity of 125 MWe with 6000 tonnes per day of steam, with the hydrogen replacing hydrocarbons delivering a reduction of 740 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum. The new plant will replace Stanlow’s existing boiler units, which currently generate approximately 50 MWe for the


refinery operations. The plant is integral to the decarbonisation of operations at EET Fuels’ Stanlow refinery, which plans to cut total emissions by 95% by 2030, which would make it the world’s ‘lowest carbon’ refinery. EET Hydrogen Power is considered to be a key infrastructure project, supporting the decarbonisation plans of the wider HyNet industrial cluster as well as forming a blueprint for future industrial and power decarbonisation. The investment also delivers on EET’s contribution in supporting and growing high skilled employment in the North West.


Successful testing at record-breaking cable depth


Italy Transmission & distribution Prysmian has carried through to a successful conclusion the sea trial tests for ultra-deep installation of a 500 kV HVDC MI1 cable at a water depth of 2150 metres. This is an industry record-breaking installation, and the first time an HVDC cable has been laid at such a depth. The achievement ‘sets new market standards’ says Prysmian. The non-metallic armoured cable, which was designed with a composite material based on high modulus synthetic fibres, may


shape the new generation of cable technology. The use of an innovative armouring solution that in water can be 50% lighter than steel, combined with the state-of-the-art cable-laying vessel Leonardo da Vinci, will enable the installation and maintenance of Terna’s Tyrrhenian Link at a water depth of more than 2000 metres, the deepest ever reached with a power cable. The success of the sea trials is the result of many laboratory tests. The same light weight armour technology had in fact been used


in 2019 for the Evia – Andros-Tinos interconnection at a water depth of 550 m and in 2020 for the Crete-Peloponnese submarine interconnection project at 1000 m. The cable will also be employed for the Tyrrhenian Link, a €1.7 billion project awarded in 2021 by Terna S.p.A. Under the contract, Prysmian will design, supply, and install a total of over 1500 km of submarine cables to support the power exchange among Sardinia, Sicily and Campania, and reinforce the Mediterranean energy hub.


www.modernpowersystems.com | July/August 2024 | 5


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