November 21, 2024 — While President-elect Donald Trump has promised to do away with offshore wind, it’s unknown whether his incoming administration will follow Sweden’s lead of rejecting certain projects due to concerns over radar interference and its impact on national security.
“That was really interesting, because Sweden has been a strong proponent of these turbines,” Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI, said of reports that Sweden had blocked more than a dozen offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea. “They apparently realized the number of turbines were going to interfere with their military radars onshore. They’re a little concerned now about Russia, and they did not want to tolerate an impairment of their defense capability.”
His comments came during the Nov. 12 Beach Haven Borough Council meeting, where he discussed litigation related to Atlantic Shores as well as a number of initiatives related to offshore wind that might be undertaken by the second Trump administration.
“That’s one of the issues connected to this (Atlantic Shores) project because we have military radars in Gibbsboro, N.J.,” Stern said, explaining radar is used to protect against unwanted things in the ocean and would be impacted by offshore wind turbines. “There have been rumblings from our Department of Defense about this project and other projects. We’ve not been able to really get a lot of information about that, maybe because some of it is classified. But I’m pretty sure our defense department has had some issues with this (radar interference), as well.”