ND regulators to discuss Air Force wind worries

[unhappycamper]

ND regulators to discuss Air Force wind worries
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 17, 2010 21:27:14 EDT

BISMARCK, N.D — North Dakota regulators say they are working to ease concerns at the Grand Forks Air Force Base about whether the state’s burgeoning wind power industry could interfere with its radar installations.

The state Public Service Commission is meeting with base and county officials June 23 in Grand Forks County’s office building, Commissioner Tony Clark said.

The spin of wind turbines can interfere with sensitive radar, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security. The report suggests improvements to aging radar installations would help to solve the problem.

“Aircraft targets and, to some extent, weather features ... can be temporarily lost, fail to be located, shadowed by the radar signature of the turbine farm, or misidentified,” the report says. “The wind turbines may also lead to false detection of aircraft.”

A British study concluded the problems could be reduced or eliminated by changing a wind project’s layout or adding radar installations or software filters.