A massive wind turbine blade shattered, causing an extensive debris field that shut down beaches on exclusive Nantucket Island.
As workers in protective clothing resembling hazmat suits rushed to contain the damage, “the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Wednesday that operations at Vineyard Wind have been suspended until it can be determined whether the ‘blade failure’ impacts other turbine blades on the development,” according to The Associated Press.
The clean-up crew had to wear hazmat suits. The blade shattered all over the beaches! The wind turbine industry is notorious in Europe for corruption. so, besides killing mammals in the water, they could get beachgoers.
The turbines are made of fiberglass or fiber-reinforced plastic that cannot be recycled. They only last 10 to 20 years, and no one has a feasible plan for the waste.
As you can see, they pose a threat to marine mammals, the power grid, and the economic hazards of mining rare earths and other materials in developing nations.
Until we know what to do with the waste and can ensure safety, we should stop lining the nation’s shorelines with these windmills.
According to CFACT and The Vineyard Gazette, Vineyard Wind was the first approved windmill project, and it is the largest. The turbines are 800 feet tall, and a blade is as long as a football field.
They are manufactured by GE Vernova, which had a blade fail at UK’s massive Dogger Bank wind installation. The company had blades fail in Germany. America Electric Power is suing them. They have quality and warranty concerns. The lawsuit alleges that the generators had defects after two to three years.
The Nantucket project is now suspended.
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