Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

For the better part of two months now, four of the five wind turbines at America’s first offshore wind farm haven’t been spinning. 

Workers at the Merkur wind farm in the German North Sea found signs of stress fatigue on the support structures of the “helihoist” platforms on some of the project’s GE Haliade turbines. 

The Providence Journal, 8/14/2021

Comments:

1. Ørsted was prudent to shutdown the turbines to conduct precautionary inspections.
2. Press reports imply that Ørsted was slow to advise the public about the reasons for the shutdown.
3. The shutdown raises questions about the reliability of wind-centric regional power grids.
4. Given the questions that have arisen regarding the regulation of offshore wind projects (this wind farm is in Rhode Island State waters), the absence of any comments from State and local officials was noteworthy. It’s unclear what, if any, role the State had in the shutdown decision.
5. Hurricane Henri may give the wind farm a bit of a test this weekend.