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

U.S. finishes wind turbine radar interference trials 

Credit:  By John Croft | Source: Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | Aviation Week | May 20, 2013 | www.aviationweek.com ~~

The FAA and other U.S. government agencies have completed the third and final operational field test in a two-year, $8 million program to study the physical and electromagnetic interference between radar systems and wind turbine farms, and to identify mitigation techniques to address this issue.

Data from the third Interagency Field Test and Evaluation of Wind Turbine-Radar (IFT&E), designed to assess near-term mitigation and to help develop long-term mitigation techniques, is being analyzed by Sandia National Laboratories and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. The test took place in April.

Interference with radar has been a safety concern for both the FAA and the military, as well as a key roadblock to developers of new wind turbine farms, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Energy needs are accelerating plans for new wind farms, and elevating the priority for finding mitigation measures for radar interference. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), since 2000 wind power-generation capacity in the U.S. has increased from 5 gigawatts to 60, and could increase to as much as 305 gigawatts by 2030, supplying about 20% of U.S. electricity needs.

“To accommodate future wind energy growth in the United States, new technologies are needed to mitigate interference impacts from wind turbines on radar systems, which include decreased sensitivity, false targets, and corrupted track quality,” says the Energy Department.

U.K.-based startup Aveillant, which is developing 3-D holographic radar systems to counter the problem, says when wind farms are located within 20 nm of an airport, reflections from the rotor blades can mask the position and altitude of aircraft in a large area near the facility. The interference, known as “clutter,” appears as a large clump on air traffic control radar screens and can be confused with a weather cell, according to Aveillant. Primary returns from aircraft in the vicinity—including range and bearing—are generally lost near the wind farms, though secondary surveillance from aircraft with functioning transponders is typically not affected. The FAA, military and homeland security agencies are also concerned about the effects on long-range radar systems.

The IFT&E program analyzed wind turbine interference during three multi-day tests in which long-range, terminal and other radar systems were used to track a variety of test aircraft flying around and over wind farms in Minnesota and Texas.

The April test took place in King Mountain, Texas, home to a 280-megawatt wind farm with 214 turbines.

“The laboratories’ technical evaluation of the most promising technologies will be used by FAA to validate and accelerate the new mitigation technologies for temporary deployment into the national aviation system,” says the Energy Department. “In addition, the agencies are developing a longer-term plan involving more permanent solutions that can be applied to both land-based and offshore wind turbines.”

Source:  By John Croft | Source: Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | Aviation Week | May 20, 2013 | www.aviationweek.com

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