“Imagine…red blinking stoplights…every night, all night long…and not in sync,” Gayla Randel, who can see the lights on more than 130 turbines from her Marshall County, Kan., home, told lawmakers this year. Wind energy projects in the U.S., largely concentrated in a high-wind-speed corridor stretching from North Dakota to West Texas, have been slow to adopt the mitigation solutions. Towns, counties and states passed some 1,800 ordinances regulating wind energy as of 2022, according to a database compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The companies use radars to activate red lights if a low-flying aircraft comes within 3½ miles of a project. The Federal Aviation Administration requires that wind turbines be painted a light color and have red lights on top.

Source: Wall Street Journal April 30, 2023 13:12 UTC