ScottishPower Renewables has partnered with Cambridge-based Aveillant (www.aveillant.com), part of the Thales Group, to test a new radar system that aims to safeguard the UK’s offshore wind industry.

Rapid growth in off-shore wind technology means that much larger and more powerful wind turbines will be installed in UK waters in the coming years.

With ‘next generation’ offshore projects considering wind turbines with tip heights upwards of 250m, it is a recognised by the renewable energy industry that these projects could interfere with Ministry of Defence (MoD) radar coverage and civilian aviation radar, as larger blades and taller structures can cause ‘clutter’ and ‘shadowing’ with existing radar technology.

It is estimated that as much as 10GW of projects currently in planning are at risk of MoD objections, with future projects beyond this also at risk.

Currently, ‘rotating radar’ — the technology most used in the UK today — is unable to easily distinguish between moving turbine blades and other objects such as drones and aircraft.

Rotating radars lose sight of the ‘target’ on each rotation, and have to re-acquire the ‘target’ each time.

ScottishPower Renewables (www.scottishpowerrenewables.com) has been working with Aveillant to find a solution that will satisfy MoD concerns, and an agreement was signed at the recent Farnborough Air Show to develop a new system.

Aveillant’s Holographic Radar is a non-rotating two-dimensional ‘staring’ array that produces a full three-dimensional picture of the covered volume of airspace.

The system uses powerful algorithms to recognise what it sees (wind turbines, aircraft and, in other applications, drones) and provides a ‘clutter-free’ picture to the radar operator.

It is proposed that an extended-range Aveillant radar will be tested in Northamptonshire within the next nine months, and the results shared with the MoD.

Further tests on the east coast of England will be planned soon after. If successful, the technology could be applied to future off-shore wind projects in the UK, with global export opportunities to other countries around the world with off-shore wind ambitions.

The agreement with Aveillant will see the creation of a number of new engineering jobs in Cambridge.