Product Information
West Wales Airport & MOD
Mike Watson has been involved in a recent wind turbine public inquiry in Wales regarding interference caused by wind turbines on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Following the public inquiry the wind turbine was given the go ahead and is now operational. The appeal was quite unusual because the turbine was small and had already been built. The turbine was situated next to the runway at West Wales Airport where Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are tested and was also in range of MOD radar at their Aberporth test facility run by QinetiQ.
Whitelee
The largest onshore wind farm in Europe, Whitelee in Scotland, faced severe opposition during the planning process because of likely radar interference. Pager Power worked closely with Scottish Power and BAA to identify a site for a new radar from which none of the turbines would be visible, but aircraft flying into Glasgow airport would be seen. This case study explores the specific challenges that lay ahead and how 322 MW of clean energy was finally achieved.
Wessex Water
As part of the Environmental Impact Assessment Pager Power was commissioned as an independent consultant on both communication and aviation issues. Ofcom consultation and Pager Power’s analysis identified various communication links that constrained the development. It was identified that mitigation would be required to satisfy the relevant stakeholders.
Sheringham Shoal
The proposed wind development is well over 30km from the secondary surveillance radar (SSR) at Cromer yet the radar operator was concerned that there may be a technical impact on the radar. Although radar operators do not normally object at these ranges this case was considered different because of the large number of turbines and the number of low flying aircraft – namely military jets. The radar objection had effectively stopped the development progressing through the planning process.
New Albion
At just over 30km and with terrain contour analysis showing an almost unobstructed line-of-sight from the Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) at RAF Cottesmore, Pager Power quickly identified that this was a major issue which needed to be resolved before committing significant expenditure to the project. This was later confirmed in the response from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to Pager Power’s formal pre-planning consultation.
