LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Fears for British air defences as offshore wind farms could impact on radar 

Credit:  The Government has launched the second stage of a competition for experts to find solutions | By Ben Glaze, Deputy Political Editor | Mirror | 2 Apr 2021 | www.mirror.co.uk ~~

Experts fear offshore wind farms being built around Britain’s coast could jeopardise UK air defences.

Turning turbine blades may interfere with radar designed to pick up foreign fighter jets or long-range bombers approaching UK air space or the area of national interest.

Studies suggest offshore wind farms could interfere with vital military communications.

The Government is so concerned that it has launched a £3.6million competition for companies to suggest ways to mitigate the impact – and prevent giant wind farms accidentally obscuring airborne threats.

Phase two of the Wind Farm Mitigation for UK Air Defence competition, run by the Defence and Security Accelerator and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, will launch on April 21 and run for two months.

Five or six projects are expected to receive backing.

Advertising the contest, the Government said: “The continued development of wind turbine sites can have an adverse impact on civil and military air traffic control, and air defence surveillance.

“If you think you have an idea that can be developed to support the coexistence of offshore wind farms and UK air defence systems, DASA would like to see your technology in Phase 2 of the competition.

“The Windfarm Mitigation for UK Air Defence competition seeks proposals that can develop technologies to permit the coexistence of future offshore wind farms alongside UK air defence surveillance systems.”

A 2008 study for the US Department for Homeland Security found that “wind farms interfere with the radar tracking of airplanes”.

It warned that America’s “ageing long range radar infrastructure significantly increases the challenge of distinguishing wind farm signatures from airplanes or weather”.

The report said “mitigation measures may include modifications to wind farms (such as methods to reduce radar cross section; and telemetry from wind farms to radar), as well as modifications to radar (such as improvements in processing; radar design modifications; radar replacement; and the use of gap fillers in radar coverage)”.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm is being built on Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

It is being constructed in three stages between 80 and 120 miles off the North East coast, and will be able to power six million homes using the world’s most powerful turbines – General Electric’s Haliade-X.

They stand 853ft (260 metres) tall, have a rotor diameter of 722ft (220m) and the blades are each 351ft (107m) long.

Russian planes testing British air defences regularly approach over the North Sea.

Source:  The Government has launched the second stage of a competition for experts to find solutions | By Ben Glaze, Deputy Political Editor | Mirror | 2 Apr 2021 | www.mirror.co.uk

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon