Stealth wind farms

Over half of the UK's proposed wind farm developments are objected to on the grounds they interfere with air traffic control or defence radar systems. Rotating turbines of wind farms wreak havoc on radar systems and cause clutter on screens which prevents detection of other objects in the airspace.

With the aim of helping the UK to achieve its target of generating 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, BAE Systems is working to design a 'stealth' wind turbine which is invisible to radar.

According to the British Wind Energy Association, 4.7GW of renewable energy projects are now held up because of military or civil aviation concerns and BAE Systems has developed a suite of solutions to help overcome this challenge.

A key area of development is the application of radar absorbent materials, commonly used on advanced military vehicles to prevent detection. These materials, made from rubber, foam or paint, can be applied to existing turbines or inserted within the turbine blades, with the effect of making the wind farms invisible to radar.

Other solutions being trialled by the Company include: careful positioning of wind farms to avoid interference, innovative software featuring sophisticated algorithms to filter out the radar signals produced by wind turbines; and reshaping turbines so that they deflect signals away from the radar's line of sight.

Jon Mills, head of strategy at BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies said: "There is no single 'silver bullet' solution to mitigating the impact wind farms have on radars. Every geographical combination of radar and wind farm design will be different, but we have developed a systematic approach to the technical analysis and resolution that enables economically viable solutions.
"The development of a process where wide-scale planning issues can be addressed in a comprehensive manner paves the way for quicker, more cost-effective assessment of wind farm applications. Without our activities, a number of wind farm developments would be unable to proceed, which would affect the UK's ability to achieve its challenging 2020 renewable energy targets."

In the last two years alone BAE Systems identified innovative solutions that will release 500 megawatts of renewable energy and see developers commit £1billion of investment, while also maintaining the safety and security of air operations.

BAE Systems' approach involves working with key stakeholders across the renewables industry including wind farm developers, the Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Defence, Airports, the British Renewable Energy Association, Crown Estates and the British Wind Energy Association. Many of these organisations have acknowledged the Company's role in facilitating discussion and understanding across a range of interest groups.