U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program – Federal Wind Siting Information Center

Federal Wind Siting Activities

Review past and present activities undertaken across the Federal government to improve and expedite the process for responsible wind project siting and development. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Agencies whose names are listed in bold are the lead agencies for their activities.

Siting Topic Actions Participating Federal Agencies and Other Entities Status
Completed
Radar Interagency Meeting at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) about Wind and Radar Interference CEQ, DOE, DOD, FAA Meeting held June 2006
Radar Wind Power and Radar technical meeting convened in Reno, NV July 2006 DOE, DOD, FAA Proceeding; Technical and market information posted to Web site
Radar Wind-radar interaction information resources added to the Wind Powering America Web site DOE Information now available here
Radar Expedited review and evaluation of wind project siting in several states FAA, DOD, DOE  
Radar Published a report on the effect of wind turbine interactions with military radar systems DOD Completed September 2006 (PDF 1.3 MB)
Radar Published paper on the Impacts of Wind Farms on WSR-88D Operations and Policy Considerations DOC/NOAA Completed January 2007
Siting/
Permitting		 Prepare a report for county government officials on wind-siting issues at the county level DOE Report published October 2006 (PDF 1.1 MB)
Transmission Support for wind-related transmission right-of-way in MN DOE, DOT ROW Approved
Underway
Environmental Establish an interagency committee to develop Fish and Wildlife wind siting guidelines under Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) FWS, BLM FACA Committee established March 2007
Radar Develop a prescreening tool for radar installations FAA, DOD Development underway
Radar Develop summary of existing and potential mitigation options DOE In development
Radar Engaged industry and regulators on TDX's Alaska wind project applications to FAA DOE, FAA Approval pending
Radar Participate on wind/radar panel and present paper/posters at WINDPOWER 2007 on weather radars and wind farms DOE, FAA, DOD, DOC/NOAA, USDA June 2007
Siting/
Permitting		 Publish a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for alternative energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf MMS, DOE Draft PEIS released March 2007
Siting/
Permitting		 Prepare an MOU to establish an interagency consultation process between DOD and BLM for wind energy applications on BLM public lands DOD, BLM Draft MOU prepared
Siting/
Permitting		 Establish wind energy policy siting guidelines for wind energy projects on National Forest System lands USDA/FS Policy being finalized
Proposed
Radar Develop field tests of wind-radar/wind-weather radar interaction DOE, DOD/AF, FAA, DOC/NOAA  
Radar Develop communication and outreach activities to protect operations at sensitive DOE facilities from potential wind interference DOE/NNSA