GE Vernova Inc. shares slumped almost 7% on Friday after one of its turbine blades failed at an offshore wind farm near England, the latest in a string of accidents involving its equipment that have damaged public acceptance of the struggling industry.
The failure occurred Thursday morning on an installed GE Vernova turbine at the Dogger Bank wind farm off the northeast coast of England, according to a notice on the project website. No one was injured and the cause is under investigation. A GE Vernova representative confirmed Thursday’s incident in an emailed statement.
The same facility in May suffered a failed blade on a different GE Vernova turbine, with the project developers saying the circumstances appeared to be isolated to that particular blade.
A month ago, a blade fell from a GE Vernova turbine off the US East Coast, with shards washing ashore on the island of Nantucket, closing beaches. Public outrage has added to the problems already facing the industry as rising interest rates and supply-chain woes plague projects.
Any impact to GE Vernova’s business depends on whether the recent failure was caused during the installation or if it’s a problem with the blade itself, said Graham Price, a clean-energy analyst at Raymond James. “If it’s an installation issue, then it’s an isolated event, whereas if it’s a blade issue then any project that uses this blade would have to be looked at,” he said in a telephone interview.
The latest incident raises more concerns about the manufacturing quality of the company’s offshore wind blades, RBC Capital Markets LLC analysts wrote in a note Thursday. “Damages for extended downtime also need to be accounted for and could have the bigger financial impact,” the analysts said.
Dogger Bank is expected to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm upon completion in 2026. The project is a joint venture of SSE Renewables, Equinor ASA and Vårgrønn AS.
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