A contract between the Department of Energy and Climate Change, The Crown Estate, NATS and the wind industry’s Aviation Investment Fund Company was signed this week.
The contract is aimed at solving the problem of aviation radar interference from wind turbines and includes financing worth £5.15 million towards a solution via new technology being developed by Raytheon.
According to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, ED Miliband, objections from the aviation industry are one of the key reasons UK wind energy applications are either being refused or withdrawn.
If successful, the technology could allow five GW (gigawatts) of wind energy projects, currently subject to National Air Traffic Services objections to be consented and built. This is enough to power over 3 million homes every year.
The Raytheon technology comprises hardware and software allowing the recognition of wind turbine blade movement on airport radars. In response the image on the radar screen caused by the wind turbine can be deleted by the technology.
A solution to aviation issues is essential to the smooth the path for future offshore wind energy projects. A substantial proportion of the Round 3 offshore wind energy projects are in areas where aviation organisations have objections to wind development.
BWEA say “While the Raytheon solution has the potential to fix the en route radar problem, issues still remain with MoD radar…” “…the Aviation Investment Fund Company has also recently committed to fund a MoD and IBM study for expanding the UK Air Defence and Ground Environment Command and Control System (UCCS) to accept air traffic control radar feeds as wind farm mitigation.”
14 wind energy companies have agreed to invest and become members of the Aviation Investment Fund Company. The company was put together with the specific aim of directing resource towards solving radar issues.
