PNE AG has realised "on-demand night-time marking" for a wind farm with different turbine types

PNE AG, together with several partners, has successfully met the challenge of developing a ready-to-use system for "on-demand night-time marking" (BNK) of wind power turbines for a wind farm comprising different turbine types. Now that all the necessary approvals have been obtained, the system for the Kührstedt-Alfstedt wind farm in Lower Saxony can be put into operation.

This wind farm comprises 13 wind power turbines manufactured by Siemens and Senvion. PNE has been operating the wind farm since 2017. As part of the project development, PNE voluntarily agreed to convert the night-time marking of the wind power turbines to BNK as required by aviation law. In practice, this means: Only when a flying object is in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm is the lighting switched on via a signal for the time of the overflight. This project has now been completed. The required approval by Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) has been obtained.

Contribution to more acceptance

“We know that permanent warning lights can be annoying for local residents. In our pursuit to be a future-oriented developer and operator of wind farms, it was natural for the PNE Group to lead the way in the search for solutions and not to wait for a legal regulation,” say Patrick Orth and Heiko Stoffers, project manager at PNE AG. 

"PNE develops clean energy solutions, and this also includes considering and minimising light emissions from obstruction lighting. We are thus making a contribution to greater acceptance of wind energy," says CEO Markus Lesser, referring to the company's philosophy. 

Further wind farms can be connected

As early as in September 2017, PNE AG and the operations management company "energy consult" GmbH, which is part of the PNE Group, decided to cooperate with the market-leading enterprise Quantec Sensors GmbH, based in Isernhagen. Together, they now operate the system for the detection of aircraft in the district of Cuxhaven. This system was one of the first receiving approval by Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS). 

The detection system is located in the Wollingst district of the municipality of Beverstedt. The lattice tower and the detection system were installed in October 2018, followed by programming and testing. This was the starting signal for the integration of the Kührstedt-Alfstedt wind farm into the system. The system is suitable for connecting further wind farms. In particular, the large detection radius of 18 kilometres is a decisive advantage of the system.