GE Vernova's bid to stop work at New England wind farm is rejected again

A Massachusetts judge refused to lift an injunction that 'forced' turbine supplier GE Vernova?to?continue working on the largest offshore wind farm -in New England, or to send their dispute with $4.5 billion project developer Vineyard Wind to arbitration. Suffolk County Superior Court judge Peter Krupp ruled in Boston that Vineyard Wind had the right to take its dispute to court to seek urgent relief. The 'judge' issued a preliminary order requiring GE Vernova, at Vineyard Wind's request, to continue working. Vineyard Wind sued GE Vernova because a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based subsidiary sent a warning that it would terminate the agreement if it was not paid $360 millions.

Vineyard Wind, a joint-venture between Spain's Iberdrola, and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners argued that if GE were to leave the project, which includes 62 turbines with a total of 806 megawatts, they would endanger its commercial viability.

GE Vernova appealed a?Krupp injunction from April. It also?asked Krupp reconsider the injunction and to send the case to arbitration. This was because recent statements by Vineyard Wind and officials from the state describing the windfarm as essentially completed showed that it would not have been irreparably harmed if GE left the project.

Krupp, however, said that these announcements didn't change the fact the project relies on GE "expertise and proprietary knowledge to bring the turbines to operational capacity." He said that letting GE and its 200+ employees, subcontractors and suppliers walk off the job could jeopardize project financing.

In a press release, GE Vernova said that it was proud of its work on the project. It also stated that it has the right to terminate contracts if payment is not received. The company stated that it was looking forward to the next steps.

Vineyard Wind has not responded to our request for comment. Vineyard Wind's project on Martha's Vineyard began initial operations in early February after the developer had convinced a federal court a month before to block the Trump administration's decision to halt construction. The developer claims it has the right to refuse hundreds of millions in payments from GE 'Vernova's GE Renewables US LLC after a 2024 turbine blade collapsed and fell into the water off Nantucket.

Vineyard Wind claims that the blade failure led to two years of delays, after it was discovered that the manufacturing flaw which caused the failure is widespread. Other blades had to be replaced.

(source: Reuters)