Construction of Vineyard Wind 1 has paused and operation of completed wind turbines halted as cleanup and investigation of a blade failure continues.

The incident began the evening of July 13, as pieces of one of three blades on turbine AW38 began raining down into the Atlantic Ocean, and culminated in the large remaining chunk of the blade falling July 18.

As a result, a safety perimeter was established at the site and beaches on Nantucket to the northeast were closed.

The facility recently won bragging rights as the largest offshore wind farm operating in U.S. waters, even in its partially completed state. The high-profile failure and widely shared images of it have given fresh fodder to industry opponents proclaiming the danger of the emissions-free power sector that’s establishing a foothold in the United States.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said July 17 it issued a suspension order to Vineyard Wind LLC to cease power production until it can be determined if the issues that caused the blade to fail affect any other turbines at the site.

The suspension order halts installation of new wind turbine generators as well. And BSEE also issued a preservation order to safeguard material that might help determine the cause of the incident.

The developer said it had already decided to halt construction and operation when the BSEE orders came down.

Vineyard Wind LLC is a 50-50 joint venture of Avangrid Renewables LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Sixty-two GE Vernova Haliade-X turbines rated at 13 GW will give the project a nameplate capacity of approximately 800 MW and help Massachusetts get closer to its decarbonization goals.

Investigation and damage control continued at the site July 18, with interference from Mother Nature. A band of heavy rain passed south of Nantucket at midday and the National Weather Service issued a small craft advisory due to 4- to 6-foot seas.

Vineyard Wind LLC updated the situation later on its website:

“This morning, a significant part of the remaining GE Vernova blade detached from the turbine. Maritime crews were onsite overnight preparing to respond to this development, though current weather conditions create a difficult working environment. Despite these challenging weather conditions, a fleet of vessels remains at sea managing the situation and working to remove bulk debris. We have deployed additional crews to Nantucket Island in anticipation that more debris could wash ashore tonight and tomorrow as we continue to monitor additional coastal communities.”

The blade was 107 meters long and weighed 70 metric tons.

Vineyard Wind LLC said July 17 the integrity of the blade was compromised, and the chances of it detaching had increased.

Local officials said the remainder fell into the water at 6:40 a.m. July 18 and that a very large piece was submerged.

The developer in its statements has emphasized the role of GE Vernova, which built the turbine and whose subsidiary LM Wind Power fabricated the blade. It said it was staying apprised of GE Vernova’s effort to remove and recover what was left of the blade.

GE Vernova said in a prepared statement:

“GE Vernova’s top priority is safety and minimizing the impact of this event on the communities surrounding the Vineyard Wind farm in Massachusetts. We continue to work around the clock to enhance mitigation efforts in collaboration with Vineyard Wind and all relevant state, local and federal authorities. We are working with urgency to complete our root cause analysis of this event.”

Another incident with GE Vernova offshore wind equipment occurred May 1 off the English coast at the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the world’s largest offshore wind facility.

Developer SSE Renewables said May 9 that initial findings indicated the circumstances of the incident were isolated to the one blade that was damaged.

A source with knowledge of the situation said July 18 that a detailed investigation by GE Vernova’s Wind Fleet Performance Management team revealed an issue related to the installation of the blade, that it was immediately corrected, and that it did not recur during installation of the other blades.

The Vineyard Wind incident has garnered steady media coverage, and GE Vernova has taken a hit in the financial markets, with its stock price dropping a combined 11.6% July 17 and 18.

The crippled turbine at Vineyard Wind 1 is part of the first wave of what advocates hope will be thousands of wind turbines spinning off the Northeast coast. Opponents meanwhile have tried and failed and are still trying to block Vineyard and other projects in the courts of law and public opinion.

In a June 25 update, the partners said Vineyard had 10 turbines operational, giving it a nameplate capacity of 136 MW. This edges out its neighbor, South Fork Wind, the only other utility-scale wind farm operating in U.S. waters, which is rated at 132 MW.

They said 47 foundations and transition pieces and 21 turbines had been installed at the Vineyard site.

As of July 17, Vineyard Wind LLC said it had collected several large pieces of debris and 17 cubic yards of smaller debris from Nantucket’s south shoreline. Beaches subsequently were reopened.

The town and county of Nantucket has established a “Vineyard Wind Turbine Blade Crisis Update” page on its website in response. More than 60 people attended the Select Board meeting in person the evening of July 17 and more than 1,600 watched online.

Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller told the audience that a blade folded the evening of July 13, triggering an alarm and an automatic shutdown of the turbine. The established emergency response protocol then began.

Moeller said the large pieces of debris had been removed to New Bedford for storage. The smaller pieces were being recovered, he said, adding that they are not toxic.

The audience erupted into a bout of exaggerated coughing at this point, until Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr hushed them.

She acknowledged the tension in the room but admonished the audience to hold their questions and criticism.

Roger Martella, GE Vernova’s chief sustainability officer, told the meeting that the company has established a war room in Schenectady, N.Y., as it investigates the incident, and he promised updates.