BWEA the body representing the UK wind industry today responded to comments in the media regarding Ministry of Defence (MOD) objections to wind farm planning applications.
MOD regularly object to new wind farm planning applications – many wind farm developers have been concerned that they were acting on exaggerated fears of the likely impact of turbines on RADAR. Wind farms are just one of a number of large surface level objects that are picked up by RADAR.
Maria McCaffery, BWEA Chief Executive said “The technology already exists to allow RADAR operators to distinguish between flying planes and wind turbines as used in places like Denmark.
‘The technical issues are not insurmountable but the industry has been frustrated by 11th hour objections and inconsistent advice from the MOD. What we need is a problem solving approach to individual applications.’
The Prime Minister personally committed the government to working with industry to find a mutually acceptable solution in his speech to the World Wildlife Fund last November. BWEA has been working with officials from MOD, the Cabinet Office and BERR to resolve issues and hopes to see significant progress soon.
McCaffery added “With a third of the UK’s electricity supply retiring over the next 15 years securing Britain’s energy sources is a top priority. In the future Britain will increasingly have to balance national security and energy security issues if we are not to become over dependent on imported gas from unstable regions of the world.”