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Wind Power: Defence

Volume 471: debated on Monday 4 February 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps are being taken in the (a) short and (b) medium term to solve the difficulties related to wind turbines and air defence radar. (184415)

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated on 19 November 2007 that in order to remove the barriers to the deployment of onshore and offshore wind farms, he has asked my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for Transport and myself to step up efforts in cooperation with industry and the regulators to identify and test technical solutions to the potential difficulties that wind farms pose to air traffic and defence radar. The Department is facilitating the resolution of these concerns. We have established groups to improve the understanding of the issues and to initiate programmes of work to identify, develop and implement mitigation solutions to reduce the impacts of wind turbines on radar. It is our aim to establish a range of mitigation solutions that can be considered and, where appropriate, utilised to allow the removal of objections to wind applications in respect to their potential impacts on radar. We are working closely with the various aviation stakeholders and the wind sector to drive these initiatives forward.