Individual advice regarding on-demand night-time marking

Wind turbines in Germany must always be marked as aviation obstacles to prevent collisions with aircraft.

To reduce the continuous flashing at night to a minimum and, at the same time, increase acceptance among residents, wind farms must be equipped with on-demand night-time marking systems in the future.

Using aircraft-detecting radar technology, effective lighting is only activated when there is actual air traffic so that a wind turbine is only illuminated when an aircraft is approaching. By January 1, 2025 at the latest, all wind turbines in Germany must be equipped with a system for on-demand night-time marking.

This applies not only to new but also to existing wind turbines. energy consult has dealt intensively with the topic of on-demand night marking at an early stage and offers you expert and competent advice on equipping your wind turbines with a system.

We would be happy to inform you about the various system providers existing at present.

energy consult provides the following services to you as a wind farm operator:

  • Individual advice, needs assessment and cost analysis as a decision-making basis for the system that is right for your plant, taking into account the specifications of the operating company
  • Analysis and testing of technical interfaces and, thus, of the basic suitability of your plants for retrofitting
  • Integration into the framework contract of energy consult for on-demand night-time marking
  • Vendor-independent analysis of the suitability of the available transponder-based systems for your wind farm (signal supply, on-demand night-time marking hardware, location-based proof of compliance)
  • Negotiations with the system providers up to the monitoring of the implementation in the wind farm
  • Execution of and support in the application and approval procedures, including provision of approval documents
  • Licensing and activation in conformity with the approval
  • (Monitoring the) retrofitting of the existing farms
  • Fulfilling verification and documentation duties

Monitoring the refitting of the existing parks

Verification and documentation obligation

Take advantage of our expertise to find a suitable solution and ensure the timely installation of an on-demand night-time marking system to prevent losing the right to a market premium if retrofitting is not carried out on time.

We recommend deciding on an on-demand night-time marking system as early as possible so that the approval procedures can be initiated in good time and the retrofitting work can be carried out on schedule during periods of low wind.

Current legal basis for the installation of on-demand Night-time Marking systems

According to Section 9 para. 8 of the EEG 2017, operators of onshore wind turbines, who are obliged to provide for night-time marking according to the requirements of aviation law, must equip their wind turbines with a system for on-demand night-time marking of aviation obstacles.

To fulfil this obligation, the use of transponder signals from aircraft has been permitted since the General Administrative Regulations for the Identification of Aviation Obstacles (AVV-KvL 2020) came into force. The activation of on-demand night-time marking was originally scheduled for July 1, 2021. In August 2024, the German Federal Cabinet decided that the obligation to equip wind turbines with a system for on-demand night-time marking should be extended to 1 January 2025.