Maker of Vineyard Wind turbine blades accused of scheme to falsify data – Nantucket Current

Jason Graziadei • Nov 10, 2024, Nantucket Current

Published in cooperation with The Nantucket Current

Image: Google Maps

Following the publication of a Canadian media report [see below] alleging a “data falsification scheme” at one of its wind turbine blade manufacturing plants, GE Vernova – the company supplying the wind turbines for Vineyard Wind – acknowledged that “corrective actions” had been taken at its LM Wind Power Plant in Gaspé, Canada, the source of the defective blade that failed on July 13th.

“Following the July blade event at Vineyard Wind, we commenced an extensive internal review of our blade manufacturing and quality assurance program across our offshore wind operations,” said GE Vernova spokesperson Tim Brown said in an email to the Current. “Based on this review, we have taken corrective actions at our blade facility in Gaspé. We are confident in our ability to implement these corrective actions and move forward.”

Brown’s statement was in response to an inquiry from the Current regarding Radio Gaspésie reporter Toby Germain’s Oct. 24th report that “A data falsification scheme may have led to the wave of layoffs and suspensions currently underway at LM Wind Power.”

LM Wind Power was acquired by GE Vernova for $1.65 billion in 2017.

“The investigation, led by GE Vernova’s lawyers, reportedly revealed that employees were asked by senior company executives to falsify quality control data,” according a translation Germain’s story from French. “Data associated with a well-made blade was therefore associated with poorly made blades.”

Brown, the GE Vernova spokesperson, did not address the specific allegations in the article, but also did not dispute them.

GE Vernova announced in late October that it intends to remove “some blades” from the wind farm after the re-examination of more than 8,300 ultrasound images per blade and physical blade inspections with “crawler” drones. It’s unclear how many blades will be removed or what the inspections revealed, but the announcement clearly indicates the company discovered additional manufacturing deviations similar to what it believes caused the blade failure over the summer.

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova will also be “strengthening” other blades, apparently in response to what was found during the inspections. The process of how blades are strengthened and where was not disclosed.

During an earnings call with investors on Oct. 23, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said the number of blades found with a manufacturing deviation was in the “low single-digit proportion” of all the company’s manufactured blades but did not specify the exact number.

“We can say today that a very small proportion, low single-digit proportion, of our manufactured blades, in totality, also had a manufacturing deviation similar to the blade that we experienced the failure at Vineyard Wind,” Strazik said. “In those cases, we’re taking action on those blades, and we’re doing that right now, and really now getting to a point of shifting back to execution out at sea.”

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued an updated suspension order for Vineyard Wind last month that continues to prohibit the company from resuming power production, the installation of blades, and conducting any activity on the damaged turbine known as AW-38.

“At BSEE’s discretion, however, specific activities may be allowed on a case-by-case basis after sufficient risk analysis has been performed and mitigation measures are adopted,” the agency stated.

There is no timetable for the completion of BSEE’s independent investigation into the blade failure.

Over the past month, GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind have been shipping blades from the staging area in the Port of New Bedford across the Atlantic Ocean to another LM Wind Power plant in Cherbourg, France. The companies have not commented publicly on the shipments of blades despite repeated requests from the Current and other media outlets. 

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From Radio Gaspesie (Oct. 24 2024)

(translated from French to English by source)

A data forgery ploy would have led to the wave of dismissals and suspensions currently taking place at LM Wind Power.

Yesterday, the Vice-President for Global Operations at GE Vernova reportedly approached all employees of the Gaspé plant to take stock of the situation.

The investigation, conducted by GE Vernova’s lawyers, reportedly revealed that the employees would have been asked by the company’s senior executives to falsify the quality control data. The data associated with a good manufacturing blade were therefore associated with blades of poor design. Our sources indicate that this would be a widespread practice in industry.

The senior management of the Gaspé plant would also have put in place a system of points that prompted the employees to skip the verification steps, thus giving priority to the quantity of production at the expense of quality.

Our sources indicate that the point system would have involved a close monitoring of management that was approaching intimidation of employees.

It was the 107 m oversized blades that were produced in Gaspé for the construction of marine parks that would be affected. It is now the integrity of all the longest production in America that is being called into question.

The financial losses would be estimated in millions of dollars, and the reputation of the Gaspé plant internationally would be affected.

LM Wind Power and GE Vernova have still not responded publicly or responded to our requests for information.

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This is one in a continuing series on Offshore Wind and the Vineyard Wind blade accident off the coast of Nantucket