GE Vernova to pay Nantucket $10.5M over offshore wind blade failure
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — Nearly a year after a turbine blade failure scattered debris along the shores of Nantucket, GE Vernova has agreed to pay the town $10.5 million in compensation.
In July 2024, a blade from Vineyard Wind 1’s offshore wind farm broke apart, causing truckloads of debris to wash ashore on Nantucket and other beaches across Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
According to town officials, the incident occurred at the height of the summer tourist season, disrupting local businesses and impacting the island’s economy for months.
A worker cleans up debris from a broken wind turbine that washed ashore in Nantucket
GE Vernova, the company responsible for building the turbines, said an investigation determined the failure was due to a “material or manufacturing deviation” during production at a factory in Gaspé, Canada. The company agreed to replace all blades made at that facility.
Community Compensation
Under the agreement, a portion of the settlement will be used to establish a Community Claims Fund, allowing residents and business owners to submit claims for reimbursement and recovery.
The town said the fund will provide an accessible, low-cost way for those affected to seek compensation for cleanup costs and business losses they might not otherwise have recovered.
A third-party administrator will manage the fund. The town emphasized it will not be involved in resolving individual claims.
Once selected, the administrator will open a six-month submission window for residents and businesses to present evidence of damages. Compensation may be determined based on the severity and nature of the claims, depending on how many are submitted.
Broken wind turbine off the coast of Massachusetts
Moving Forward
The town noted that the agreement does not release Vineyard Wind or GE Vernova from liability should a similar incident occur in the future.
Over the past year, the Nantucket Select Board said it received guidance from three law firms with “relevant expertise” and a nationally recognized financial firm specializing in damage assessments to draft the settlement.
Debris from broken wind turbine that washed up on a Nantucket beach
“The blade failure was a difficult event for our community with some known short-term harms and unknown potential longer-term harms,” the town wrote.
“By the time we know whether those longer-term harms will manifest, however, the period for litigating several of our potential claims will have expired,” the town continued. “So, by necessity, we focused on delivering compensation for our community sooner rather than later.”
The town emphasized its commitment to using the funds to help the community recover from the losses, as well as strengthen its capacity to hold offshore wind developers and regulation agencies accountable.
Read the full settlement agreement below.
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