Vineyard Wind sues GE Vernova for preventing it from abandoning its wind farm

Vineyard Wind filed a suit to stop a GE Vernova unit that supplies wind turbines from cancelling agreements and abandoning the work on a $4.5billion offshore wind farm near Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind, a 'joint venture' between Spain's Iberdrola, and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, has filed a suit in a Boston state court accusing GE Vernova of trying to end their contract in the "most vulnerable" stage of the wind project.

The project is one of five large offshore wind farms on the East Coast that were halted by President Donald Trump’s administration near 2025 due to national security. Following lawsuits, federal judges allowed the construction of all five projects to resume.

Vineyard Wind's project of 806 megawatts off the coasts of Martha's Vineyard resumed construction in February and became the first large offshore wind farm to start operations in the United States.

The lawsuit stated that GE Renewables US LLC - which designed, manufactured, and installed Vineyard Wind’s wind turbine generators - sent the company a notice threatening to terminate their agreement for turbine supply.

Vineyard Wind said in a complaint dated on Wednesday that GE had done so citing a lack of payment for amounts due to them under their $1.3billion contract. Vineyard Wind claimed it exercised its right of withholding about $308m as a result GE's 'admittedly bad performance, after one of their offshore blades?in 2020 collapsed and fell in the waters near Nantucket causing delays.

Vineyard Wind has called GE's terminations of agreements as improper. They have asked a judge to stop GE from stopping work on the project which "threatens?to?deprive?hundreds of thousands -of Massachusetts ratepayers?of clean energy."

A judge scheduled a hearing for April 16 to determine whether to issue a?preliminary injunction.

In a press release, GE Vernova said that Vineyard Wind had refused to pay the money. The company claimed it had done so after installing?all 62 turbines in the wind farm.

"The company remains dedicated to the safety of the Wind Farm and stands by its performance and contractual obligations", GE Vernova stated. We will vigorously defend the position we hold through the legal process. (Reporting from Nate Raymond, Boston; Editing by Edward Tobin).

(source: Reuters)