Wind turbines on the way
THREE pilot sites for the erection of the city’s first electricity generating wind turbines are being investigated. However, the proposal to erect a wind farm on Durban’s Bluff headland has been shelved.
Derek Morgan, senior manager of the city’s energy office, said the city had taken heed of the environmental sensitivity of this site, in particular bird and resident bat populations.
“We are working very closely with scientists like Dr Schoeman to identify the best sites with the least impact on the environment,” said Morgan.
The initial project will involve the installation of three wind turbines at specific sites, which, he says, still have to be finalised.
“Our first objective,” he said, “is to learn about the installation of these turbines and to understand their capabilities in a local setting.” roptera, and are not closely related to the order Rodentia, to which all rodents belong. They are not related to rats and mice directly, but merely related in that they are mammals.
Some bats can eat more than 1 000 mosquitoes in an hour.
The effect of electricity generating wind turbines on bird and bat populations have become big buzz issues among conservationists worldwide.
Among them is the worldwide Bat Conservation Trust (BAT), which stressed the possible harmful effects on bats and other wildlife, reporting that dead bats and birds have been discovered underneath wind turbines.
BAT said research into the siting of these structures was not sufficiently rigorous, and that some have been erected on migration routes of bats and birds with disastrous results. There was a need, said BAT, to consider bats in the planning of wind farms.
A Wind Resource Map compiled for the municipality identified a number of areas in the eThekwini region with “usable” wind speeds. The sites under consideration do not include any city or urban areas.
Using techniques of stable isotope analysis, it is possible to extract from bat hair samples information on the types of food bats consume, where the food was consumed and during what seasons, therefore tracing their flight patterns.