{"id":16920,"date":"2013-10-17T06:15:24","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T11:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=16920"},"modified":"2014-01-02T09:43:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T15:43:11","slug":"why-the-growth-of-wind-energy-worries-weather-forecasters-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/10\/17\/why-the-growth-of-wind-energy-worries-weather-forecasters-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Growth of Wind Energy Worries Weather Forecasters in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Radar<\/p>\n

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Radar systems engineer Redmond Kelley and Caleb Fulton, an assistant professor of engineering, test an experimental phased-array weather radar in Norman.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma is now No. 6 in the nation in wind-generated electricity capacity, and last week the state helped set a wind power record<\/a> for the entire region.<\/p>

Wind farms are multiplying and expanding in Oklahoma<\/a>, Texas, Kansas, and throughout the Great Plains, where the nation\u2019s wind energy potential is concentrated.<\/p>

The industry’s growth is worrying weather forecasters because wind turbines can confuse radar.<\/p>

The problem is the 150 foot-long blades spinning atop a wind turbine and the undulating, ominous clouds that accompany severe weather look the same to the computers that digest and display weather radar data, says Ed Ciardi, a meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>

Ciardi, who works at NOAA\u2019s Radar Operations Center in Norman, which controls all 160 of the country\u2019s NEXRAD weather radar sites<\/a>, pulls up a feed from a station near Frederick, Okla., in southwest Oklahoma. The screen shows a line of storms to the east, and what appears to be a storm cell to the west, just south of the Red River.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Weatherunderground<\/p>\n

A NEXRAD weather station near Frederick, Okla., interprets a wind farm near Vernon, Texas, as a storm cell.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cThey look like thunderstorms or strong rain showers,\u201d Ciardi says, looking at his feed from the radar station.<\/p>

The storm cell 12 miles north of Vernon, Texas is a ghost. It\u2019s actually the Blue Summit Wind Energy Center, a wind farm that started operating in 2012.<\/p>

This is not a new phenomenon; meteorologists and scientists have known about wind turbine interference for years. U.S. Department of Defense raised the issue in 2006 over concerns that wind projects might impair military radar.<\/p>

\u201cA weather radar works by sending out a pulse of radio energy. It bounces off raindrops, hailstones and so-forth, comes back and tells us something about the target and the speed,\u201d says Robert Palmer, a professor and associate vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma\u2019s School of Meteorology.<\/p>

But because turbines are moving with the wind \u2014 the same wind that\u2019s powering storms and weather systems \u2014 current radar technology can\u2019t tell the difference.<\/p>\n

Solving the Problem<\/h3>

There are two solutions to the problem, and both have complications.<\/p>

One is to write new computer programs to filter out wind farm clutter, which Palmer has been working on for seven years.<\/p>\n

\"Advanced<\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Advanced weather tools, like this phased-array radar being tested by engineers with OU's Advanced Radar Research Center, could help solve the wind farm clutter issue, but are likely decades from operation use, meteorologists say.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cThe algorithms we\u2019re coming up with are really complex,\u201d Palmer says. \u201dThere are processors that are capable of doing it, they\u2019re just not on the operational weather radars.\u201d<\/p>

Installing computers capable of running new filtering algorithms would require upgrading radar stations, a process that would include a lengthy field-testing process \u2014 in all, a time-consuming and expensive proposition for a federal agency facing uncertain budgets.<\/p>

Another solution, says Ciardi with NOAA, is preventing wind farms from being built near weather radar stations. \u201cBut the wind resource happens to be right where the most severe weather occurs,\u201d he says.<\/p>

Wind farms are multiplying and expanding in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and throughout the Great Plains, where the nation\u2019s wind energy potential is concentrated. Ciardi doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be possible to keep all the turbines away.<\/p>

The U.S. and state governments don\u2019t have rules preventing wind operators from building near weather radar stations. NOAA is relying on the wind-energy industry to voluntarily submit new wind projects for the federal agency to review<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty good working relationship, and so far we\u2019ve had pretty good cooperation,\u201d Ciardi says.<\/p>\n

‘Clutter’ Confusion<\/h3>

There is some anecdotal evidence that wind farm radar clutter has impaired weather forecasts in the past, but Ciardi says it\u2019s mostly a nuisance \u2014 right now. But more wind farms could mean more confusion.<\/p>\n

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