Should you drive throughout Iowa at evening, you would possibly encounter a collection of coordinated crimson lights flashing within the sky.
Greenwood: “It seems to be like an entire bunch of fireflies lighting up on the similar time.”
Geoff Greenwood is with MidAmerican Vitality, which operates 3,400 wind generators throughout the state.
Crimson lights are positioned on high of the generators to stop pilots from crashing into the constructions, which could be greater than 200 ft tall.
However that flashing lights up the evening sky, which some individuals discover annoying — so at three of its wind farms, MidAmerican Vitality has put in a radar system that scans for close by planes.
When a low-flying aircraft is detected inside a couple of miles of the generators, the warning lights begin to flash.
However when the skies are clear, the lights keep off — and Greenwood says that because the system was put in, they keep off about 95% of the time.
Greenwood: “It has a dramatic affect on the nighttime sky.”
He says security is the precedence, so if the radar system fails, the lights activate robotically.
After testing the know-how for a 12 months, the corporate will look to put in it at different wind farms — retaining pilots protected whereas lowering gentle air pollution.
Greenwood: “This provides us the very best of each worlds.”
Reporting credit score: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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