Wind Farms ‘Threat to National Security’

by Rob Walker | February 4, 2008 at 03:32 pm | 1022 views | 14 comments

Latest reports are that Jack Bauer has been dispatched to the scene and will be dealing with these 'wind farms' personally. Apparently the Ministry of Defence has objected to at least four on-shore wind farms that would obstruct the line of sight of their radar.

Ambitious plans to meet up to a third of Britain’s energy needs from offshore wind farms are in jeopardy because the Ministry of Defence objects that the turbines interfere with its radar.

The MoD has lodged last-minute objections to at least four onshore wind farms in the line of sight of its stations on the east coast because they make it impossible to spot aircraft, The Times has learnt. The same objections are likely to apply to wind turbines in the North Sea, part of the massive renewable energy project announced by John Hutton, the Energy Secretary, barely two months ago. They would be directly in line with the three principal radar defence stations, Brizlee Wood, Saxton Wold and Trimingham on the Northumberland, Yorkshire and Norfolk coasts.

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politisite

at 15:38 on February 4th, 2008

Same arguement made about cell phones messing with airplane navigation NOT SO!

Swan

at 15:51 on February 4th, 2008

Hello Rob,

Good grief! Sounds like a lot of hot air to me!
~ Swan

John Yeung

at 16:34 on February 4th, 2008

This wind farm is located adjacent to the M6 motorway (Junction 37) at Lambrigg (Northern England). The RAF use this relatively unpopulated and hilly area for low fly training. I have not heard of camplaints relating to adverse effects to land or aircraft based radar here. Although I heard a tale about a traffic police radar gun being acquired as weapons lock on-board an RAF aircraft.

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Dada618

at 17:43 on February 4th, 2008

These photos were taken of one of the largest windmill farms in southern California, US; to create green energy for one the the world's largest consumers of electricity.

Dada618 has contributed a photo to this story.

tanja555

at 18:19 on February 4th, 2008

A wind farm on the street to Ain El Soukhna at the red sea in Egypt.

tanja555 has contributed a photo to this story.

manatee.voyager

at 19:20 on February 4th, 2008

Tarifa, Spain where the wind blows F6 most afternoons and the wind turbines rumble into life .

manatee.voyager has contributed a photo to this story.

gnuru

at 19:39 on February 4th, 2008

A wind farm in rural Illinois, United States.

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Shandchem

at 19:49 on February 4th, 2008

I would have thought that software on radar systems could eliminate interference from windfarms?

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scrunchy17

at 20:02 on February 4th, 2008

Wind farm - Solano County, California, USA

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TELPortfolio

at 20:24 on February 4th, 2008

Wind farm - Apiti, Manawatu, New Zealand

not aware of any defence issues being raised with this one.

thru this lens

at 01:33 on February 5th, 2008

Some "windmills" started cropping up four years ago south of Abilene, Texas. A hum of murmurs and rummers prevailed as folks from San Angelo traveled north to the bigger city visiting larger stores and upscale restaurants.

At first, there were a few unidentifiable structures far out in the distance. Then, some "windmills" were built close enough to see that they were different from the farm windmills folks were used to seeing. By the end of the second year, some wind turbines were built just a few yards from the highway!

They became a place to stop and take each other's picture at the base of the towering blades. Now, it's not the individual tower that's so amazing, it's the staggering number of them.

Florida Power and Light's Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center has become the largest wind farm in the world with 421 wind turbines sprawled over 42 square miles (109 sq km) having a generating capacity of 735 megawatts.

There is a UK approved plan to construct a 1,000 megawatt wind farm with only 341 turbines covering 90 square miles off the coast of Kent. The plan was approved in December 2006 and, if constructed, will power one-fourth of Greater London's households.

# # #

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_Faffe_

at 09:21 on February 5th, 2008

The most part of energy in Albany (WA) is provided by wind farms they work grately and they do not create any problem to the radars of Albany'a airport. So I'm really in favour of green energy!

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