The 45m Stealth blade was tested at North Pickering

In Norfolk, over the past week, testing has been going on to see if a "stealth" turbine blade is invisible to radar.

Vestas is the manufacturer of this 45m blade, which was installed on Tuesday for a week of testing, by QinetiQ, a defense company. The testing is taking place in North Pickering near Swaffham, at a wind farm owned by Enertrag UK.

In the past, MOD facilities had objections to wind farms, because the blades show up on radar screens from time to time, when moving quickly, and they are hard to differentiate from small planes. Though this has not been an obstacle in the creation of wind farms, manager of projects at Enertrag UK, David Linley, says that these types of problems can lead to a "montage of complaints" which could hinder the formation of further wind farms.

QinetiQ has worked toward combating any possible problems like this with the development of Radar-Absorbing Mater (RAM), a material that can be added to the structure of the turbine blade. One of the composite's glass cloth layers can be replaced with the material, which can then absorb more than 99% of incidental radar.

The idea is simply being explored at this point by Vestas and QinetiQ, but there are hopes to present some more conclusive findings next week at the BWEA conference.

[Via: NewEnergyFocus]