Four Wind Farm Objections in a Year: When Radar and Renewables Collide

The Ministry of Defence has warned that a proposed 23-turbine wind farm on moorland between Arkengarthdale and Teesdale, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, would cause unacceptable interference with military radar and pose a danger to low-flying aircraft.

The scheme, Hope Moor Wind Farm, is proposed by Fred. The MoD's Defence Infrastructure Organisation says it would interfere with radar at RAF Leeming and an air defence installation in Northumberland. The project is being considered through the nationally significant infrastructure planning process, and the final decision rests with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

Hope Moor is not an isolated case. The MoD has objected to at least four planned wind farms in the past year over radar interference fears. One of those, an onshore wind farm in County Durham, was objected to in late June on the grounds that aircraft might not be detected within an RAF Low Flying Area.

That pattern is what turns a single planning dispute into a defence policy question. The MoD's objections put it on a collision course with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which ended a decade-long block on onshore wind developments in England when Labour came to power in 2024. If radar interference concerns repeatedly override renewable energy approvals, the government faces a choice between its Net Zero expansion targets and military air defence coverage.

What is not yet established is how that choice will be resolved. It is unknown whether Fahnbulleh will approve Hope Moor despite the objection, or on what timeline. It is also unknown how many of the four objections in the past year resulted in projects being blocked, modified or approved, and whether the Hope Moor objection rests on the same radar concerns as the County Durham case or different installations. Mitigation measures that could allow wind farms to coexist with military radar have not been set out in the record so far.

The confirmed facts are narrower than the framing sometimes suggests. The MoD has warned of interference with radar used to detect hostile aircraft and incoming missiles. It has objected at least four times in a year. The decision on Hope Moor belongs to the Energy Secretary. Whether that adds up to a defence gap or a solvable technical problem is the question the next decisions will answer.