Prague, Jan 25 (CTK) – The Czech Defence Ministry turns down over one tenth of projects for the construction of wind power plants as they might block the military radar vision, lower air operation safety and limit the data available for the country’s air defence, daily Pravo wrote on Thursday citing ministry spokesman Jiri Pejsek.
According to Pejsek, the ministry declined 11 projects out of 82 windmill construction applications and approved 71, mainly conditionally.
The rejected projects were either in the protected areas of army radars or they would interfere with the airspace dedicated to air force training.
The most frequent reason for their rejection, however, is that they would stand in the way for the military radars.
“The rotating propeller creates a radar shade and the radars are not able to view a part of the area behind them,” Pejsek told Pravo.
The ministry often asks the constructor to decrease the windmills in size or to equip them with light signalling devices or mark them with colour stripes so that they are safe as regards air operation.
Most windmill projects that the Czech military rejected were those of the Czech branch of Max Bogl Ostvind, a German-French company, which built the majority of windmills in the Czech Republic.
While the company received permits of the Defence Ministry for 53 of its projects, seven were declined.
Its executive director Martin Vojacek told Pravo that there were other authorities in the country that prevented windmill construction. The constructors had to obtain permits of up to 30 different state authorities, including the Environment Ministry, Czech Air Navigation Services and municipal offices.
In some cases, endangered species conservation prevented the construction of windmills in their habitats.
In the Czech Republic, windmills can be projected with an overall output of 3,000-5,000 megawatts (MW).
So far, about 150 windmills were built in the country, totaling an output of around 300 MW.
According to Vojacek, a lack of support for wind power by the Czech cabinet is the major obstacle to construction of windmills, however.
The cabinet failed to approve the concept for renewable sources after the year 2019, which makes purchase price of wind power in the market uncertain and deters investors, Vojacek told Pravo.
While the construction of windmills is booming in Germany and other EU states, it has practically stalled in the Czech Republic, Vojacek said.
According to public information sources, the Czech Trade and Industry Ministry is considering introducing a system of auctions for state support for windmills, similar to those that have recently started in Germany, Pravo writes.
