Faulty manufacturing blamed for Vineyard Wind offshore blade failure

By Nichola Groom and Sourasis Bose

(Reuters) -A manufacturing flaw led to a turbine blade failure at the Vineyard Wind offshore project off the coast of Massachusetts this month, the part's producer, GE Vernova, said on Wednesday.

The turbine blade broke on July 13 and left potentially dangerous debris on beaches on the island of Nantucket. U.S. authorities later ordered a shutdown of the project, which is still under construction.

GE Vernova said a preliminary analysis had determined that insufficient bonding led to the breakage, adding its quality assurance program should have identified the issue.

The company said it would re-inspect all its offshore wind blades to check for potential defects. The company has made about 150 blades at its Gaspe, Canada facility.

"We have work to do, but we are confident in our ability to implement corrective actions and move forward," a GE Vernova spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

GE Vernova shares fell $7.59, or 4.5%, to close at $162.90 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The incident is a blow to Vineyard Wind, the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, and the nation's budding offshore wind industry. The sector is regarded as critical to meeting U.S. President Joe Biden's climate change goals, but has been struggling with soaring costs and delays.

Of the four other U.S. offshore wind projects currently under construction, none are planning to use GE Vernova turbines, according to documents the projects' owners filed with federal regulators.

It was not clear how the revelation of the manufacturing misstep would impact Vineyard Wind's construction timeline. In a regulatory filing, GE Vernova said it had installed 24 of the project's expected 62 turbines. Additional turbine parts are awaiting installation at a port staging area in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

"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," a Vineyard Wind spokesperson said in an email.

The manufacturing problem with the Vineyard Wind turbine blade is different from another turbine blade break this year at the Dogger Bank project in Britain, GE Vernova said, which was the result of an installation failure.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which ordered Vineyard Wind to stop power production and construction following the incident, did not respond to a request for comment on the GE Vernova analysis.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, GE Vernova warned that it could receive claims for damages related to the blade incident.

GE Vernova, which became an independent company in April following a three-way split of General Electric, on Wednesday also reported a 1% rise in second-quarter revenue to $8.2 billion, compared with a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected revenue of $8.26 billion, according to LSEG data.

Electric utilities across the world are looking to increase their power generating capacity and lifting the usage of renewable energy to meet emission goals, driving demand for equipment suppliers such as GE Vernova.

The company booked a 27% rise in orders in its power segment, driven by higher orders for its gas power technology while its electrification revenue rose 19%.

It also expects its full-year revenue to trend towards the higher end of its prior forecast range of $34 billion to $35 billion.

However, its wind orders declined by 44%, primarily due to a large offshore wind equipment order it booked last year that was canceled during the fourth quarter.

The company also reported two fatalities during the quarter.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Marguerita Choy and Jamie Freed)