NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — The maker of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on the beaches says a manufacturing problem was responsible.
GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said on an earnings call Wednesday that insufficient bonding at one of its factories in Canada was responsible for the blade coming apart and that there was no indication of a design flaw. As a result, the company will reinspect all 150 blades that had been made at the factory.
“To identify deviations, we are going to go and do this on every blade. Prudent, thorough process,” he told the call. “We’re not going to talk about the timeline today. We have work to do. But I have a high degree of confidence that we can do this.”
Parts of the blade, which is more than 100 meters (109 yards) long, began to fall into the ocean July 13 at the Vineyard Wind project and crews in boats and on beaches have been collecting truckloads of debris ever since. The company said that the debris consists of nontoxic fiberglass fragments and that any washing ashore are pieces of one square foot or less.
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said last week that operations at Vineyard Wind have been suspended until it can be determined whether the “blade failure” impacts other turbine blades on the development.
“As GE Vernova continues the investigation into the root cause of the damage to its blade, Vineyard Wind 1 remains focused on coordinating with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, assisting in the recovery of debris, and prioritizing the safety of personnel, local communities, and the environment,” Craig Gilvarg, a company spokesman, said in a statement.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and said no personnel or third parties were near the turbine when the damage occurred. It said in a statement that blade manufacturer and installation contractor GE “will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident.”
The development’s massive wind turbines began sending electricity to the grid this past winter. It said it will deploy trained individuals to collect the debris for the next several days
FILE - Giant wind turbine blades for the Vineyard Winds project are stacked on racks in the harbor, July 11, 2023, in New Bedford, Mass. The maker of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on the beaches says a manufacturing problem was responsible. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese authorities say Typhoon Yagi has killed at least four people and injured 78 others after making landfall Saturday afternoon in the north of the country.
Yagi, described by Vietnamese meteorological officials as “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade,” made its way to the Southeast Asian country after it left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the Chinese province of Hainan.
The typhoon landed at Vietnam's coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), state media reported. Before landing, strong winds felled a tree, killing a woman in the capital, Hanoi, local media said Saturday.
Quang Ninh is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, known for its many towering limestone islands. Hundreds of cruises were canceled at the popular site before the typhoon landed, according to local media. Haiphong is an industrial hub, home to large factories, including EV maker VinFast and Apple supplier Pegatron.
The typhoon has also triggered power outages in large parts of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh provinces.
Earlier, the government issued several alerts, and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in Hanoi, and Haiphong.
Authorities pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities. Local media reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea.
“I am going to stay inside and try and stay safe with my family,” said Bao Ngoc Cao, 24, a businesswoman from Hanoi. She added that the last time a typhoon this strong hit Vietnam was in 2013 and that storms usually weaken before reaching the capital. “But we still need to be prepared.”
On Friday afternoon, Yagi struck the Chinese city of Wenchang in Hainan province with wind speeds of up to about 245 kph (152 mph) near its center. Authorities said the typhoon left three people dead and injured at least 95 others and that it affected over 1.2 million people as of noon Saturday, according to the local Global Times newspaper
Some 420,000 Hainan residents were relocated before the typhoon's landfall. Another half a million people in Guangdong province were evacuated before Yagi made a second landfall in the province's Xuwen County on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the meteorological observatory of the city of Haikou downgraded its typhoon signal from red to orange on Saturday, as it moved further away.
Before leaving Hong Kong, Yagi forced more than 270 people to seek refuge at temporary government shelters on Friday, and over 100 flights in the city were canceled due to the typhoon. Heavy rain and strong winds felled dozens of trees, and trading on the stock market, bank services and schools were halted.
Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding and affecting more than 2.3 million people in northern and central provinces.
More than 82,200 people were displaced from their homes in Philippine provinces, and classes, work, inter-island ferry services and domestic flights were disrupted for days, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila.
Warm waters in oceans power storms, and as they become warmer because of climate change, a U.N. climate change report warned that intense typhoons are becoming more common, especially in Southeast Asia.
Soo reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers remove fallen tree branches along a street in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (Yang Guanyu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers remove fallen tree branches along a street in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (Yang Guanyu/Xinhua via AP)
A man rides motorcycle in the rain caused by typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
A man rides a motorcycle in the rain caused by typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
A man rides a motorcycle in the rain caused by typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
A man pushes a motorcycle in the rain caused by typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, Sep. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
A man rides motorcycle in the rain caused by typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sep. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
In this image released by Xinhua News Agency, a worker reinforces a glass window with tape at a cafe after the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters raised its emergency response for flood and typhoon prevention for Typhoon Yagi, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Pu Xiaoxu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a man holding an umbrella struggles against the wind following the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Pu Xiaoxu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a vehicle moves past trees along a road in Haikou following the landfall of typhoon Yagi, in south China's Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, coconut trees hit by typhoon Yagi along a road in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Yang Guanyu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an advertisement billboard lands on a road following the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Yang Guanyu/Xinhua via AP)
