THE potential visual impact of turbine lights as part of the Navitus Bay project was misleading in the recent letter “Navitus Bay…brighter view”, March 17. Lighting was assessed in depth during the examination, which found that there will be no significant effects for the local area.

The aviation lights are specifically designed to alert air traffic to their location, while the marine navigation lights are there to alert other vessels. Furthermore, the marine lights would only be placed on a selection of turbines – typically 15m above sea level – and are designed to be viewed by marine vessels up to five nautical miles away, which is less than the distance from the nearest turbines to shore.

A comparison was made to the Isle of Wight TV masts, but that was mistaken. The lights are designed to completely different specifications and are not comparable. Studies have shown that the lights on the turbine lights are approximately half as bright as the fixed lights on the TV masts.

Navitus Bay has had extensive and independent insight into both the potential impacts and benefits the wind park could bring – including the impact of the turbine lights on the local area – and we have taken all these issues into account when presenting our application to the Planning Inspectorate.

MIKE UNSWORTH, Project Director, Navitus Bay Development Ltd