Case Studies - Energy & Environment

QinetiQ Wind Energy, 2010 and beyond.

Wind Farm Public and Planning Consents

Working with Governments, authorities, manufacturers and renewable energy developers towards a greener future.

We help wind farm developers and stakeholders during all phases of wind farm development, from consent and planning approval through to turbine design, development and operation.

A principle service we offer for proposed wind farm development combines our expertise in radar, stealth and airspace management, to assess the potential impact that wind turbines may have upon radar and communications systems. At QinetiQ, we can quantify the potential impact, providing mitigation advice and solutions as appropriate.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have commissioned QinetiQ to produce a computer-based model that can quantify and predict the impact that a proposed wind farm may have upon radars. The model incorporates QinetiQ's electromagnetic scattering algorithms and can be used at an early stage of site consideration to assess risk, mitigation options and where appropriate, solutions.

Full-scale trials have been conducted and the model has been validated against measured radar energy scattered from an operational turbine. Although the primary focus has been upon military and civilian primary radars, the model is capable of working within the frequency domains of many other radar and communications systems.

What are the problems?

Wind farms cause a problem because they are very large structures in open ground (for a good wind resource) and have fast moving blades. Most modern radar systems will remove any returns they receive from targets that are stationary, and appear in every radar sweep in the same position. Wind turbines appear to the radar that they are moving because of the motion of the blades, and do not give a consistent return due to the blades being in different positions as the radar sweeps past.

How is QinetiQ resolving these issues?

QinetiQ assists Wind Farm developers and stakeholders during all phases of wind farm development, from consent and planning approval through to turbine design, development and operation.

QinetiQ investigates the way in which wind turbines reflect radar energy and how the radar deals with this returning energy. To do this we are developing a software package that can predict the effects of turbines on radar systems for different scenarios. This will highlight the key technical issues and help give developers and radar operators more guidance on where turbines will and will not be acceptable.

QinetiQ is in a position to provide expertise because of the years of experience we have on understanding radar scattering and radar systems. This has been developed to underpin the UK stealth program.

We have developed world class prediction and measurement techniques to analyse the radar scattering from complex targets.

This work should help developers find it easier to gain planning permission for sites that follow the guidelines set out using the results of this work.

Most of the costs of electricity from wind energy come from the planning and developing stage of the site. If this can be made easier then the wind farms built will be more profitable and economically viable.