A staff member represented Pager Power at the South West of Scotland Regional BAA Solution Meeting held on 17th August 2010 at the Scottish Renewables office in Glasgow.
The presentation title was: Practical implications of the final radar feasibility study. (The study was recently published in Feb 2010 by the Scottish Government).
Purpose
The meeting was held with representatives including the Head of Aerodrome Safeguarding BAA, the Head of Projects and Design NATS Services Ltd. and the Scottish Government, and followed on from the recently issued report.
The main purpose of the meeting was to re-engage with people so to clarify the situation. It re-emphasised the complexities involved in various radar mitigation options, such as infill zone boundary issues, and the effects on radar such as slant angle range problems when an aircraft is being tracked by 2 radar and is not transponding. There is also the issue of unsynchronized rotation. BAA stated that they are getting a large number of queries at the moment from wind farm developers etc.
The way ahead
BAA need some real data to go with the proposal in the recent report. They want flight trials now and also need to reconfirm which developers are looking to be included in the study. They want funding from developers for this real data collection. They have stated that developers need to set up meetings with BAA to move this forwards.
Developers were urged to get on board with the aviation fund as there are currently 14 developers and they want more. BAA have stated that if a developer wants to be considered for using Kincardine as mitigation, they need to write to BAA within 1 month. A process is already in place for discussions with Scottish Renewables (who own the radar).
Finally, flight trials typically cost £6k for a medium sized wind farm and are very simple to do. NATS recommend developers club together to have trials done for their sites as part of the regional solution real data gathering to come.
How we can help
We have organised flight trials to take place, and can advise if it is appropriate. Get in touch by calling +44 (0) 1787 319001
