Wind turbine farms face turbulence!

The Mojave desert seems an ideal place for wind turbines since it is in no ones backyard and blocks no ones view or whatever. But not so. The U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force control 20,000 square miles they use for bomb tests; low-altitude, high-speed air maneuvers; and radar testing and development.

When developer Scott Debenham told local Navy and Air Force officials in June that he was working on plans to install a wind turbine at three industrial locations near the area overseen by the military, they expressed opposition to all of the projects, saying that even one additional turbine would interfere with critical testing of radar systems. The military complains that already existing wind turbines are interfering with their testing of radar systems.

Unfortunately, moving turbine blades can be indistinguishable from airplanes on many radar systems, and they can even cause blackout zones in which planes disappear from radar entirely. Clusters of wind turbines, which can reach as high as 400 feet, look very similar to storm activity on weather radar, making it harder for air traffic controllers to give accurate weather information to pilots.

The Defense Dept. and the Energy Dept. have been in conflict numerous times. The Energy Dept is keen to get more turbines up and running and the Defense Dept. worries about the turbines interfering with their tests and other activities. It would seem that the Defense Dept. often wins out as they have caused many wind turbine projects to be quashed.

In 2009, about 9,000 megawatts of proposed wind projects were abandoned or delayed because of radar concerns raised by the military and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to a member survey by the American Wind Energy Association. That is nearly as much as the amount of wind capacity that was actually built in the same year, the trade group says.

Part of the problem is that many radar systems used in the U.S. are older and do not have the capacity to distinguish wind turbines from planes. Although new software may help newer radar would help even more. Meanwhile as wind turbine projects are stalled or abandoned because of objections investors are becoming more wary. They see investment in the projects as risky and so the costs of financing increase. As these costs increase energy produced by the wind turbines becomes more expensive and less competitive. Somehow the needs of the military trump the need for more and cheaper alternative energy.

NOTE: One would think that the wind turbine interference creates a golden opportunity to research the development of radar that is sensitive enough to distinguish the turbines from airplanes and other objects.