Aircraft detection lighting across a utility wind portfolio
Southern Power standardizes on 3D-radar ADLS, from FAA tower filings to flight verification.
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Customer
Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company
Sites
Three utility-scale U.S. wind facilities
Solution
SkyGuard® ADLS with solid-state 3D radar on dedicated towers; CoreCommand® monitoring
Contract
Master agreement with firm-price work authorizations per site
Timeline
First work authorization 2024; FAA tower determinations 2025; FAA test flights September 2026
TKG role
Design, supply, FAA filing support, commissioning and flight-test data
One approach, repeated across the portfolio.
The utility needed to cut nighttime obstruction lighting at its wind facilities to meet community expectations and emerging state lighting rules, without compromising aviation safety.
Each facility sits in a different landscape and air-traffic environment, and every radar tower had to clear FAA obstruction review before the lighting system could be approved. The owner wanted one repeatable approach rather than a different vendor and design at each site.
The solution
- SkyGuard ADLS built to FAA Advisory Circular 70/7460-1M, with 3D radar that measures aircraft altitude as well as distance, so lights stay off for traffic passing safely overhead
- Full 360° coverage of the required volume from dedicated radar towers, designed from a site model of turbines and terrain
- Fail-safe design: any component failure turns the lights on; health checked every 24 hours; activity logged and kept for at least 15 days
- Each ADLS radar tower received an FAA Determination of No Hazard (2025) before installation
- FAA test flights at set altitudes and profiles in September 2026, with radar tracks exported and compared with aircraft GPS
What was delivered.
Sites under contract
Three wind facilities under one master agreement
FAA tower determinations
Determinations of No Hazard issued for the ADLS radar towers (2025)
FAA flight testing
Two FAA test flights completed September 2026; radar tracks and light-activation timing delivered for the FAA assessment
Design basis
FAA AC 70/7460-1M; fail-safe lighting control; 24-hour health checks
Keys to a successful implementation.
File the radar towers with the turbines
Include ADLS tower locations in the first FAA obstruction filings so lighting approval is not held up by a second review cycle.
Assign an owner for the lighting system
Name who receives the daily health report and fail-safe alarms, and who dispatches a technician when the lights default to on.
Prepare for the FAA flight check
Agree flight profiles, time sources and the track-export format (KMZ aligned to the aircraft GPS log) before test day.
Keep the records
Retain activation logs beyond the 15-day minimum. They answer neighbor complaints and support annual reporting.
Brief local aviators
Tell nearby airports, agricultural operators and medical flight programs how the lights now behave at night.
Who did what.
TKG Security
Radar siting and coverage design; SkyGuard configuration; FAA filing data; commissioning; flight-test support
Integration partner
Site construction, towers, power and communications; owner coordination
Results are site-specific.
Planning a similar system?
Send the site, the mission and what is already installed. A TKG engineer will respond.