One of the UK’s oldest universities is in a bitter stand-off with military officials over a block on plans for a wind farm designed to make it self-sufficient in power and able to meet its climate obligations.

The University of St Andrews in Scotland – the meeting place of Britain's Prince William and future wife Kate Middleton – wants to develop the 12MW Kenly wind farm on farmland it owns.

The project received planning consent in 2013 but can’t proceed until an agreement is reached with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) over radar systems at nearby Leuchars.

“Despite numerous, repeated and high-level attempts by the university to explore solutions, the MoD has consistently declined to engage and refuses to negotiate to find a way forward,” claimed St Andrews, which is hoping to renew its consent and still aims to push ahead with the project.

“The windfarm at Kenly would save 9,000 tonnes of carbon per year, enable the university to comply with its duty under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, secure energy pricing into the future freeing up funding for world-class teaching and research, and enable St Andrews to become self-sufficient for electrical energy.”

The MoD has been contacted by Recharge for comment. Local media quoted it saying it is ready to engage with the university.

Radar interference is an issue for wind farm operators globally, with military officials a significant source of objection to developments.

The UK MoD announced earlier in March that it would open a £2m ($2.6m) innovation competition to seek new technological solutions to mitigate the impact of offshore wind turbines on air defence systems.