Interaction between wind turbines and the radar systems operated

Interaction between wind turbines
and the radar systems operated
by the meteorological services
Challenges facing the DWD
Carmen Diesner, Measurement Technology Division (TI 22),
Deutscher Wetterdienst, Frankfurter Straße 135, 63067 Offenbach,
Germany +49 69 8062 2885
E-mail: [email protected]
Table of contents
DWD's legal mandate
Radar network of the DWD
Conflict between weather radar systems and wind turbines
Consequences for the DWD
Challenges facing the DWD
Activities of the DWD
Results from the study carried out at Graz University of Technology
International considerations
Outlook
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Legal mandate
The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) is the national meteorological service of
Germany and as such a public institution with partial legal capacity under the
department of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI).
The DWD's legal basis is found in section 74, para 1, No. 21 of the German
Basic Law.
The DWD's tasks are set out in the 'Law on the Deutscher Wetterdienst" of
10 Sept. 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 287). The tasks include, among other
things:
the provision of meteorological services
the meteorological safeguarding of aviation and shipping,
the issuance of official warnings of weather occurrences that could become a danger
for public safety and order, especially concerning the impending danger of floods,
various duties in the context of civil defence and civilian-military collaboration
the monitoring of the atmosphere and the climate
operation of the necessary measurement and observation systems
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Involvement of DWD in authorisation processes
As a federal authority defending public interests, the DWD has special rights,
including the right to be informed by authorising authorities, for example in case
of matters relating to
Section 35, para. 1 and 3 (No. 8), of the Federal Building Code (BauGB)
Section 10, para. 5, of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG)
Authorising authorities have to consider all statements relating to a project,
ponder the alternatives and decide about their relevance.
DWD explains the problem and formulates the requirements – but the legal force of
DWD requirements are put into question (by wind turbine operators, lawyers, etc.).
Decision-making power lies with local and rural district authorities.
All requests are subjected to a technical assessment at the DWD.
official involvement
preliminary enquiries, e.g. whether a project would infringe the DWD's interests
Germany being a federal country, the competence for planning wind
energy systems lies with the individual Länder (federal states).
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Radar network of the DWD
17 operational radar sites + 1 radar system for
quality assurance
Modernisation and upgrading to dual-polarisation
radars until 2015 at an estimated cost of around
30 million euros
The one and only weather radar network in
Germany
Weather radars are the only available
technology providing full three-dimensional
coverage of precipitation and wind data.
Data are used by internal and external
customers for
forecast purposes
aeronautical meteorological consultation
disaster management
hydrology
numerical weather prediction
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Conflict: weather radar vs. wind turbines
Weather radar and wind turbines are
competing for similar sites:
exposed location (top of hill), outside
built-up areas
horizon without obstacles
infrastructure available
highly limited choice of weather
radar sites due to the necessity of
homogeneous distribution over
Germany
high societal importance
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Example of disturbance: Rostock
Rostock weather
radar
Warning thresholds:
46 dBZ: severe weather
55 dBZ: hail warning
Wind park of
Admannshagen
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Consequences for the DWD
Weather forecasting and warnings
Automatic procedures produce erroneous warnings.
Too many or too rare warnings
Warnings lose their credibility.
Attribution at the small scale and extension of lead times not possible
More difficult for the meteorologists to analyse high-impact weather situations
Wrong information, e.g. for aeronautical meteorological consultancy services
Quantitative precipitation monitoring
Inaccuracy in hydrological applications
No precise climate monitoring possible
Numerical weather prediction
Erroneous initialisation of the DWD's weather forecasting models
Verification of model forecasts may possibly be based on erroneous measurements.
The fulfilment of the DWD's statutory tasks is put at risk!
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Challenges facing the DWD
Respect for the DWD's interests
Development of a procedure for eliminating disturbances produced by wind
turbines, while
continuing to receive the meteorological information
maintaining the quality of radar data
continuing to further develop and refine the methods in order to be able to
meet the increasing demands for temporally and spatially better resolved
forecasts and warnings
Development of possibilities of coexistence of wind turbines and weather radars
at the various levels (processors, product generation, planning, etc.)
Legal disputes ↔ discussion of strategic solutions
Ensure the DWD's capacity to work successfully and fufil its statutory
tasks
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Activities of the DWD
Case-by-case evaluation of each application based on standardised criteria
Information leaflet about height and distance requirements
Information events for local and regional government and planning authorities
Inclusion of the DWD's requirements into the development plans both at regional
and Land-level
Scientific exchange at the national and international level,
Participation in the WERAN project of the National Metrology Institute of Germany
(PTB; WERAN – Interaction of Wind Turbines and Radar/Navigation Systems)
Ordering a study into the impacts of wind turbines on the DWD's weather radar
systems
Co-operation on the development of solution approaches
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Study by Graz University of Technology
Ongoing study by the Institute of Microwave and Photonic Engineering of Graz
University of Technology
Close look at three radar sites: Emden, Ummendorf and Neuheilenbach
Period examined by the study: 2 years
Examination of different data times during the day and different seasons and various
weather situations
Aim of the study
to compile a register of wind turbines (finished)
to provide qualitative evidence of wind turbine impacts, using 5 products as a basis
(e.g. KONRAD - Konvektive Entwicklung in Radarprodukten) (finished)
to quantitatively evaluate the impact of wind turbines on reflectivity and radial wind
measurements (finalisation in progress)
to assess the sensitivity of radar products to interfering signals from wind turbines
(finalisation in progress)
Prolongation of the study in order to analyse dual-polarisation data
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
International considerations on the issue of
weather radar vs. wind turbines
Most of the European countries, as well as the USA and Canada, are
encountering problems with the siting of wind turbines close to weather radar
sites.
The DWD participates in the efforts of European co-operations (EUMETNET,
OPERA) and others to examine the issue and work out solutions.
At European level, the following restrictions were agreed for C-band radars:
within a radius of 5 km: no WT
within a radius of 20 km: case-by-case verification of the wind turbine
As a compromise, the DWD requests only 15 km.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has adopted this agreement as
an internationally binding rule and has made it a recommendation for all national
meteorological services.
Internationally, there is no method known which could avoid, reduce or
eliminate these operational disturbances.
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Outlook
Prolongation of the study by Graz University of Technology towards dualpolarisation data
Joint workshop of DWD and the FA Wind, Onshore Wind Energy Agency about
the coexistence of wind energy and weather radar systems
Agreement on the future course of action once the results from the various
measures are available:
study by Graz University of Technology
WERAN
scientific workshop
OPERA
etc.
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015
Thank you very
much for your
attention.
Conference "Herausforderungen für die Koexistenz von Windparks und Radar- und Navigationsanlagen in Deutschland und Frankreich"
(Challenges of the coexistence of wind parks vs. radar and navigation systems in Germany and France) – Berlin 29.09.2015

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