U.S. Wind-Turbine Power Projects May Face Delay, Military Says

By John Hughes

The U.S. military may seek to delay construction of wind-farm power projects because turbines used to generate electricity might disrupt radar, a Defense Department official said.

Locations used to train soldiers such as California’s Mojave Desert also are prime sites for wind-energy developers, said Dorothy Robyn, a deputy undersecretary of Defense. Potential interference with surveillance radar from turbines has reached a “threshold point” in areas such as the Pacific Northwest, Robyn said today at a congressional hearing.

“These projects should not be pursued at the expense of military readiness,” said Representative Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Readiness panel. “Not all areas are appropriate for wind-energy development.”

U.S. lawmakers, energy companies and the Obama administration are seeking ways to help expand wind-energy projects without jeopardizing national defense. Applications for such projects have surged more than eightfold, to 25,618 last year from 3,030 in 2004, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA, which must approve structures that may interfere with air travel, halted a 338-turbine project near Fossil, Oregon, in March after the military raised concerns the development would interrupt surveillance radar, Robyn said.

The Defense Department on April 30 dropped its objection, in part because it found the effect on radar would not be as severe as thought, she said. The project by Caithness Energy LLC, a closely held company, will use General Electric Co. turbines. GE in December won a $1.4 billion contract from the New York-based Caithness.

‘Vast Majority’

A “vast majority” of projects raise no concerns for the Pentagon, though “objections by the department could become more common,” Robyn said. Upgrading radar and improving the process for locating turbines will reduce conflicts, she said.

The 400-foot turbines that spin up to 200 miles per hour can produce a signal picked up by radar that is stronger than a Boeing Co. 747 and can mask actual planes in the air, Nancy Kalinowski, an FAA vice president, told the panel.

Of 214 FAA radars that provide U.S. coverage for homeland defense, 13 are degraded by interference from wind turbines, said Major General Lawrence Stutzriem of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.

The two commands have supported 87 percent of 2,196 proposed wind turbines evaluated since 2008, Stutzriem said.

Robyn and Representatives Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican, and John Garamendi, a California Democrat, said they would be willing to consider the possibility wind-project developers rather than taxpayers pay for radar upgrades required to avoid disruptions.

--Editors: Steve Geimann, Joe Winski

To contact the reporter on this story: John Hughes in Washington at jhughes5@bloomberg.net