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 have an installed capacity of more than 5,500MW.
The company said that the advanced electronics of its TPS-77 radar mitigate interference, or ‘clutter’, that commonly obscure radar targets in and around wind farms.
In addition, the new radar system will provide air defense surveillance capabilities for the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) and allow the nation to move forward with aggressive plans to install some 924 turbines along England’s east coast.
Under contract with Serco, Lockheed Martin will deliver this new TPS-77 system by November 2011. In the UK, Serco has served as Lockheed Martin’s in-country Contractor Logistic Support partner for the MoD’s FPS-117, or Type 92 radars.
The TPS-77 radars’ capabilities in ‘green’ wind field environments has been demonstrated in tests at land-based wind farms near the company’s outdoor test range in Cazenovia, New York, and in trials with the Horns Rev offshore wind farm in the North Sea, the company said.
Lockheed Martin added that the new TPS-77 radar system supports the goals of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change to reduce fuel consumption. In 2009, the UK established the Low Carbon Transition Plan to reduce emissions 34% from 1990 levels by 2020, and calls for an 80% reduction by 2050.
