MoD and wind industry sign radar peace deal

One of the key barriers to the development of on and offshore wind farms could soon be lowered after the government announced it has brokered a peace deal between the wind industry and Whitehall departments such as the Ministry of Defence over concerns that wind turbines could disrupt radar coverage.

The wind industry had previously accused the Ministry of Defence of undermining investor confidence in the sector by expressing opposition to a number of projects late in the planning process, leading to millions of pounds being lost in unsuccessful planning applications.

Speaking last week, Maria McCaffery, chief executive of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), said the trade body had identified 11 schemes from nine separate developers where the MoD had originally said it would not obstruct the projects only for the department to subsequently raise concerns about their impact on radar systems.

She added that these projects alone had cost developers £7m in planning, only for final approval to be denied. "More money was wasted in planning than it would have cost the MoD to upgrade the radar system so that there would not have been a problem," she observed.

BWEA chairman Adam Bruce said the MoD's stance was likely to have been a contributory factor in the recent drop-off in the rate of new projects entering the planning system. "The slowdown may in part be down to the fact that some of the best sites have already gone, but our members are also wary of putting new projects into planning without more clarity from the MoD and civil aviation [on which projects are likely to be opposed]," he said.

The new Memorandum of Understanding - signed by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, air traffic control specialist NATS and the British Wind Energy Association - will aim to address these problems by accelerating the development of technologies capable of minimising wind farms impact on radar coverage.

Under the agreement, the signatories plan to increase investment in technical solutions such as radar absorbent wind turbines; develop a web-based screening tool designed to shorten wind farm planning processes by better identifying sites where radar issues will not arise; and establish a new Aviation Management Board which will report directly to ministers on the issue.

Business Secretary John Hutton welcomed the agreement, claiming it represented "real progress" towards removing a barrier to the expansion of wind power. "This will lead to faster consenting decisions and help us meet our challenging renewable energy targets," he added.

McCaffery agreed the deal marked "a vital first step in driving forward solutions to overcome the complex issue of wind farms and radar concerns".