Nantucket residents are watching their pristine beaches transform into “waste dumps” filled with floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards. This prompted officials to close beaches this week after a massive offshore wind turbine experienced a catastrophic failure.

Nantucket beaches turning into a waste dump from broke fiber glass wind turbine blades. Feds shut down the entire Vineyard Wind project.

Beaches are closed.

Huge problems if the other 1400 turbines are built like junk. pic.twitter.com/WYWmRubDqv

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) July 16, 2024

Local paper Nantucket Current reports debris from a broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade washed ashore across southern Nantucket beaches, stretching from Madaket out to Nobadeer, on Tuesday. 

“The water is closed to swimming on all south shore beaches, due to large floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards,” Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey said, adding, “You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches.”

Late Tuesday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Vineyard Wind’s offshore “operations are shut down until further notice.” 

Nantucket Current has confirmed this photo of the broken turbine approximately 15 miles off the southwest coast of the island. Source: Nantucket Current

Vineyard Wind disclosed Monday that one of its massive turbines was damaged in an “offshore incident” on Saturday night. The nature of the incident was not disclosed. 

“The blade experienced a breakage approximately 20 meters out from the root,” Vineyard Wind spokesman Craig Gilvarg said, adding, “The turbine was in its commissioning phase and was still undergoing testing. Nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine and has not fallen into the water.”

Nantucket Current posted a series of images that show local area beaches were scattered with debris. 

Source: Nantucket CurrentSource: Nantucket CurrentSource: Nantucket Current

The good news is that the local paper reported the debris as “non-toxic fiberglass” and “not hazardous to people or the environment.” However, the debris littering the beaches is an eyesore and a reminder of the flaws in unreliable green energy technologies.