The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Friday halted construction on Revolution Wind, a nearly completed project about 12 miles off of the Island's western tip, due to national security concerns.

Islanders can expect fewer blinking red lights along the southern shore after Vineyard Wind has turned on its long-awaited aircraft light system this past week.

Nantucket officials this week raised the possibility of suing Vineyard Wind due to poor communication, continued light pollution and lack of planning for future emergencies at the offshore wind energy farm. 

During a quarterly investor call this week, executives with the project’s parent company said that 23 turbines have been fully built at the farm about 14 miles out to sea, and 17 are sending energy to the grid. 

The town of Nantucket this week scored a multi-million dollar settlement agreement to compensate the town and businesses that were affected by the broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade that spread fiberglass and foam across the island’s south shore beaches last summer. 

While the Vineyard Wind blade failure was an initial black eye for the industry as it was attempting to get started, offshore wind energy finds itself in an even more vulnerable position one year later.