Birds face wind farm hazard
WITH fossil fuels due to run out at some point in our children’s future, the search for alternative power sources continues.
Atomic power has had two very serious jolts – at Chernobyl, then Fukushima – but, in terms of the amount of power produced, is still one of the leaders, especially in areas where hydro-electric installations are not practical.
Obviously further sources of electricity are required.
Wave-power has been investigated, but is thought to be unreliable – this leaves us with wind or solar panels as viable alternatives.
Any drive across Spain will reveal the amount of money that has been spent on the first of these options, as wind farms spring up just about everywhere.
It has long been known that the great blades of these wind turbines can be – and are – a hazard to birds, but the companies involved have played down the scale of this menace, saying that it is a ‘minor threat.’
And so it may be if these ‘parques eólicos’ are situated where few soaring birds are normally found.
But a recent study in Aragón, covering just two such wind farms, found, in a twelve month period, the corpses of no less than 110 birds and 297 bats beneath the pylons.
A further concern is that the siting of these wind farms themselves is disturbing ecologically important ‘paramos’ country, the home of the critically endangered Dupont’s lark.
Just where many thousands of soaring birds arrive in Spain after crossing the Straits of Gibraltar in spring, and where they gather prior to leaving in autumn, an enormous congregation of wind turbines ranges across the hillsides.
A big population of griffon vultures exists in the area all year round, and they, and many other soaring birds are in constant danger.
No figures are available as to the toll, but it must be considerable.
Wind farms are also located at sea, and there it is nigh impossible to quantify the threat to seabirds involved.
In a sunny country like ours, it is surely of prime importance to investigate much more thoroughly the relative value of solar panels as a power source.
Recent studies suggest that solar panels are a more efficient source of electric current than wind turbines.