US Orders Stop to Vineyard Wind Construction

A federal agency has ordered a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts to stop power production and construction until an investigation determines whether a blade failure affects other turbines, it said on Wednesday.

Vineyard Wind's offshore wind project was shut down by federal authorities after a turbine blade failure on Saturday that caused pieces of fiberglass to fall into the water.

Wednesday's suspension order from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement prevents Vineyard Wind, which is owned by Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid, from installing any more wind turbines. The facility, the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, is still under construction with only about a third of its planned turbines in the water.

"Those operations will remain shut down until the suspension is lifted," a BSEE spokesperson said in a statement.

The turbine is manufactured by GE Vernova.

Vineyard Wind said it has removed about 17 cubic yards, or more than six truckloads, of debris from the damaged wind turbine.

Beaches were reopened on the south shore of the island of Nantucket on Wednesday a day after being closed because of debris that had washed ashore, the town said in a statement on its website.

(Reuters - Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Franklin Paul and Leslie Adler)