<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/birds-avoid-turbines-two-new-studies-suggest-wind-farms-are-not-killing-machines-after-all/>
"Two new studies on the impact of wind energy generation on avian populations
have demonstrated that wind turbines might not be the “bird killing machines”
they are sometimes accused of being – and that birds are better at adapting to
turbines than we think.
The two studies separately demonstrated that bird mortality from wind turbine
collision is “orders of magnitude lower” than existing data have previously
suggested, but also that birds actively change their behaviour to avoid
operational wind turbines.
As reported by
EuroNews over the weekend, the first study was commissioned by
the German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO) and conducted by research and
consulting firm BioConsult SH, analysing more than 4 million bird movements
over a period of more than 18 months.
The second study, carried out by Swedish power company Vattenfall and Norwegian
software company Spoor with analysis and reporting carried out by The
Biodiversity Consultancy, recorded more than 137,000 birds during a 19-month
period.
The German study used an artificial intelligence (AI) controlled bird radar
system at Windtestfeld Nord, a wind turbine test site on the coast of Germany
which hosts five different prototype turbines. The specialised cameras recorded
the number of rotor transits – defined as birds crossing the rotor plane of the
turbine – during four migratory seasons.
All told, the researchers analysed over four million bird movements over 18
months, combining digital data with on-site searches for bird carcasses, and
found that migratory birds reliably avoided wind turbines.
Specifically, 99.87 per cent of birds approaching the turbines during the night
and 99.86 per cent during the day avoided the turbines, resulting in collision
risks of 0.0016 per cent and 0.0020 per cent, respectively. These results
correlated closely with actual bird carcasses found at the sites, confirming
the validity of the researchers’ collision risk models."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
