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Old 1st Oct 2008, 07:20
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WindFarmer
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Suffolk, England
Age: 55
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Wind Farms and Aviation (Various)

A few comments that may be of use:

I work for a company called Pager Power that assists wind farm developers that have radar issues. www.pagerpower.co.uk

CAA Guidance - There is CAA, MOD and wind industry guidance (somewhat dated) which gives a useful overview http://www.bwea.com/pdf/Wind-Energy-...guidelines.pdf. There is also a more recent CAA policy and guidance document on windfarms CAP764 http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/Cap764.pdf

Operational Impact - On a more practical note I received the following ATC message whilst receiving a RIS (Radar Information Service) in Cumbria "Possible slow moving traffic, unknown altitude, x miles ahead - could be a wind farm". We kept our eyes peeled and flew on.

SSR - There appears to be no real impact on SSR although SSR radar are normally safeguarded for wind turbines to 5km or more in the United Kingdom.

Overseas - There are more than 40 large wind turbines within 10km of Kastrup airport in Copenhagen and there is a similar number of turbines in the industrial area of Amsterdam, to the north of Schipol. The UK generally takes a more cautious approach to wind turbine radar safeguarding than other countries.

Lighting - Almost all onshore turbines in Britain are unlit. Where they are lit there are two medium intensity red lights mounted on top of the nacelle.
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