‘BioTherm invests in conservation work’

Regarding André van der Spuy’s letter, BioTherm Energy (BTE Renewables) is proud to be a part of the renewable energy solution in South Africa, and we are particularly proud of our sustainable approach to this.

In developing our wind-energy projects, we take the potential effects on birds, and priority species in particular, very seriously, and are deeply committed to mitigating our impact in this area. This is real investment in action, where we honour our commitments by practising what we preach.

The mitigation programme we have implemented focuses on priority species, and includes an industry leading ‘shutdown-on-demand’ programme, as cited in a previously published article ( FW, 23 April 2021). The result is that zero collisions of priority species with our wind turbines have occurred to date, and we are looking to ensure that this continues into the future.

This programme has been implemented following an in-depth investigation into the impact on priority species, which has been carried out by environmental and conservation specialists. This process also highlighted that any impact we could have would pale in significance when compared with the current impact of power lines, poisoning and destructive agricultural practices, and so on.

We have invested in meaningful conservation work and engage closely with conservation organisations such as the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to provide expert guidance, based on sound research, to ensure we have maximum positive impact.

As such, while the EWT and organisations like BirdLife South Africa have also challenged us in this area, their willingness to engage with and assist us will have the best conservation outcomes. We are deeply grateful for their assistance in this respect.

On our wind farm in Kenya, for example, we have implemented an extensive on-site programme, including shut-down-on-demand by a fulltime team of 30 monitors led by an experienced ornithologist, and made a significant investment into a conservation programme focusing mainly on an antipoisoning campaign across a vast area of Kenya. This programme is undertaken with five conservation organisations, having recognised that poisoning is, by far, the greatest killer of vultures and other birds of prey across East Africa.

We would like to emphasise that we are deeply committed to the generation of sustainable energy. We hope to engage with all interested parties about the programmes we are running to achieve the best possible conservation outcomes. Libby Hirshon, sustainability ESG director at BTE Renewables