Overview
The Whitelee Wind Farm is the UK’s largest onshore wind farm with an electrical generating capacity of 539MW. Pager Power was instrumental to the original planning permission by providing a variety of radar assessments which identified the solution to overcome a significant objection from Glasgow Airport. The following article and video gives an overview of the process and radar mitigation implemented.
Wind development details
The original proposal was officially opened in 2008 and consisted of 140 wind turbines measuring 110m to tip. An extension to the wind farm was then completed in 2012, increasing the number of wind turbines to 215. It remains the UK’s largest onshore wind farm to date with further extensions still possible.
Case study video
The wind farm encountered a radar objection from Glasgow Airport due to the potential interference to its primary surveillance radar (PSR). Pager Power was able to identify a whole new radar location which would not be able to detect the wind farm whilst also being able to provide effective coverage in the airspace above it. The video below explains the mitigation and process.
Figure 1: Whitelee case study – airport radar mitigation via infill
The Kincardine radar location was eventually used to mitigate the wind farm. More information on this radar can be found here.
Conclusions
For large wind farms a new infill radar can be a potential mitigation option. In this case, Pager Power was able to identify a suitable radar location which meant the wind farm could be built. The full written case study can be found here. If you require a wind turbine radar assessment for your proposed development, please get in touch.
