First wind farm Obstruction Light Control project from Terma approved and operational

ILA Berlin – A wind farm containing six 200 meter wind turbines resides in the German federal state of Brandenburg, in close vicinity to the residential town of Prignitz.

The towers have bright aircraft warning lights that can be prominent in an otherwise pristine night sky.  The high intensity obstruction lights from the wind turbines can sometimes annoy residents who live nearby.

This problem can be overcome by turning the obstruction lights on only when necessary, such as when there is an aircraft in the vicinity of the wind farm. The Obstruction Light Control (OLC) variant of Terma’s SCANTER 5202 radar system monitors the airspace over and around the wind farm and only activates the obstruction lights when there are aircraft in the vicinity of the wind farm.

Since end of December 2017, the obstruction lights have been de-activated during nighttime thanks to Terma’s SCANTER 5202 wind farm OLC system.

The Terma OLC system in Brandenburg is the first off-site X-band based radar system to receive the official operational approval from the German authorities. The approval followed a live flight test conducted end of 2017, which demonstrated the system was performing in accordance with the German rules and regulations (AVV) for deployment of OLC in connection with wind farms. Initial tests have shown that the obstruction lights are turned off approximately 95% of the operational time.  

The project is executed, installed, and now operated by Terma’s German partner Quantec Sensors GmbH.

Terma’s OLC solution reduces light pollution caused by wind farm aviation lights and helps wind farm developers achieve public acceptance of wind energy, making Terma’s OLC solution a true project enabler.

SCANTER Radars

Terma’s SCANTER 5000 radar series is part of a larger family of Terma radar products, which have all benefitted from the introduction of fully digital signal processing, providing extremely clear radar images with low probability of false alarms. More than 300 SCANTER 5000 series radars are in operation worldwide.

Terma at ILA Berlin

Meet Terma at the German Pavilion, booth no. 309 in Hall 2 at this year’s ILA-Berlin at the Berlin ExpoCenter Airport, on 25-29 April 2018.