Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Serco recently reached agreement with the Ministry of Defence to introduce new radar technology into the U.K. Air Defence System that is resistant to the interference generated from wind farms, removing a significant planning obstacle to the roll out of future off shore wind power, according to Serco.
This business will be worth around $30.7 million over two years, according to U.K.-based Serco.
The advanced electronics of the TPS-77 radar mitigate interference, or clutter, that commonly obscures radar targets in and around wind farms, according to Lockheed Martin. The new radar system will provide reliable air defense surveillance capabilities for the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) and allow the nation to move forward with aggressive plans to install some 924 turbines along England’s east coast, Lockheed Martin added.
The radar will provide surveillance over five planned wind farms in the Greater Wash Strategic Area-Sheringham Shoal, Race Bank, Dudgeon, Triton Knoll and Docking Shoal–that are expected to generate more than 5,500 megawatts of sustainable power, Lockheed Martin said.
Under contract with Serco, Lockheed Martin will deliver this new TPS-77 system by November 2011. In the United Kingdom, Serco has served as Lockheed Martin’s in-country contractor logistic support partner for the MoD’s FPS-117, or Type 92, radars, delivering greater than 98 percent operational availability.
The TPS-77 radars’ capabilities in green wind field environments have been demonstrated in tests at land-based wind farms near the company’s outdoor test range in Cazenovia, N.Y., as well as in trials with the Horns Rev offshore wind farm in the North Sea. The radar itself is also highly energy-efficient, delivering top performance while using just half the power of comparable S-band radars, according to Lockheed Martin.
The new TPS-77 radar system supports the goals of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change to reduce fuel consumption. In 2009, the United Kingdom established the Low Carbon Transition Plan to reduce emissions 34 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The plan calls for an 80 percent reduction by 2050. With more than 200 operational offshore wind farms, wind power is the nation’s biggest renewable energy source. In 2008, the United Kingdom surpassed Denmark as the largest offshore wind generator in the world, Lockheed Martin added.