QinetiQ-Vestas stealth wind turbines solve radar interference problem

Plans for the construction of wind farms are being postponed or rejected due to objections from airline companies or air force. Recent tests in the UK showed that conventional radars have problems of identifying low flying aircrafts from wind turbines.

Radar technology traces objects in motion by searching for Doppler. But when an aircraft flies so low over a wind park, radars are unable to easily distinguish the flying object from the spinning blades of a turbine. Vestas, a UK-based turbine manufacturer, and technology consultant QinetiQ came up with the solution of using stealth technology to hide the turbine blades from the radar.

In a project partly financed by the UK government, radar detectable materials were integrated in the Vestas V90 turbine blades, with the radar cross section measurements evaluated by a QinetiQ system.

The test results in the project successfully showed a major reduction in the radar signature. According to the researchers, installing the stealth technology into the wind turbines’ nacelles and towers, as well as on the blades, allow any residual radar presence to be resolved out of air defence and air traffic systems, and make wind energy farms invisible to radar.

According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the successful installation of the stealth technology can lead to the construction of five-gigawatt wind generation sites in the UK, which have been postponed due to worries of radar interference.

Mark Roberts, Energy and Environment Strategic Business Director of QinetiQ, considered the stealth turbine technology as the game-changer of the renewable energy industry, as it removes a major barrier to the development of wind energy sector.