Wind Farms Impact on Radar Aviation Interests
Objectives
A study has been completed by QinetiQ to provide a detailed understanding of the interactions between wind farms and radar systems. The main objectives were as follows:
To determine the effects of siting wind turbines adjacent to primary air traffic control radar;
To determine the extent to which detailed design of wind turbines influences their effects on radar systems;
To determine the extent to which the design of the radar processing influences the effects of wind turbines on radar systems;
To provide text suitable for inclusion on the UK guidelines on Wind Energy and Aviation Interests..........
The following are some of the results generated by the project:
The design of the tower and nacelle should have the smallest Radar Cross Section (RCS) as possible. The RCS of these components can be effectively reduced though careful shaping and choice of construction materials;
Large turbines do not necessarily lead to large RCS (i.e. tower height does not greatly affect RCS);
Blade RCS returns can only be effectively controlled though the use of absorbing materials;
Spacing of wind turbines within a wind farm needs to be considered in the context of the radar cross range/down range resolutions.
Spacing the turbines such that only one turbine can appear in any range cell has advantages in identifying the wind farm, filtering out the turbines and in tracking aircraft over the farm area;
Single wind turbines do not create a significant ‘radar shadow’. Any shadow region is only dark to a distance of a few hundred metres behind the turbine. Beyond this there is some reduction of the radar power, and a time-variation, but these will not prevent detection except possibly for very small targets.
This study complements the recently the completed study by AMS which looked at the feasibility of modifying radars to remove the effects caused by wind turbines (report number W/14/00623/REP).