Windfarms and birds
AN INITIATIVE TO PUT ORNITHOLOGISTS AT THE HELM OF WINDFARMS ON SOME OF THE WORLD’S KEY MIGRATION PATHS IS SAVING LIVES, SAYS KENNY TAYLOR.
An innovative project lets birders switch off turbines during peak migration
There are two facts about wind power that no one can dispute – its contribution to global electricity production is soaring, and turbines built without taking wildlife into account can be lethal to birds.
There are currently a number of huge wind-energy schemes planned for the coast of the Red Sea and along Africa’s Rift Valley (which runs from Jordan to Mozambique). These could be an economic boon for the countries involved, but the risks to birds are potentially enormous.
That’s because the Rift Valley is the world’s second-largest flyway for migratory soaring birds such as raptors, vultures, storks, ibises and pelicans. “In autumn, birds come here from much of the Northern
THE RIFT VALLEY IS THE SECONDLARGEST FLYWAY FOR MIGRATORY SOARING BIRDS.
Hemisphere, including Greenland and eastern Russia,” said Martin Fowlie of BirdLife International. “Not many places in the world funnel soaring birds as tightly as the narrow corridor of the Rift Valley. The air currents here also make the area very attractive for energy companies, so it’s vital to help them reduce impacts on migratory birds.”
Recent work in southern Portugal is giving grounds for optimism. The 25 turbines at the Barão de São João windfarm have a combined output of 50 megawatts (MW), enough to supply electricity to 200,000 homes. They also sit in the area’s prime location for soaring bird migration, and more than 4,000 birds from 30 species use this airspace each autumn. They include griffon vultures and two species of kestrel, all prone to collisions with turbines.
Last autumn, however, was the fifth in a row with no recorded mortality of any soaring birds at Barão. Key to this success has been the careful monitoring of bird movements by trained observers and radar tracking of flocks (all paid for by the energy company E.ON), combined with another critical factor: ornithologists have the power to shut turbines down if they fear an imminent collision.
“We can choose which turbines to stop and do it in 10 seconds,” said Filipe Canário, an ornithologist working for Strix Ecology, designers of the monitoring scheme. “Doing it this way, the windfarm is shut for just one two-hundredth of its total operating time.”
Strix director Miguel Repas said that the pilot work in the Algarve is probably the world’s most successful scheme for mitigating bird mortality at a windfarm. “One of its key aspects is that we don’t have a fully automated system,” he added. “It’s not a machine that decides whether to shut [the turbines] down, but a human.
“This means that we can minimise the loss of electricity production by avoiding an unnecessary shutdown. The developer trusts us, and we have
full authority to press a button and halt turbines.”
The biggest test yet of the methods developed in Portugal is now about to begin. Working as part of BirdLife International’s Migratory Soaring Birds project, Strix will start work at Hurghada in Egypt, on the Red Sea/Rift Valley flyway, this spring.
The scale of everything is much larger here: 100 turbines producing 200MW, with an eventual output of 3,200MW, and an areas where flocks can include thousands of birds.
As in the Algarve, Strix will use both radar and surveillance by ornithologists around the site. A potential major difference is that the ornithologists do not expect, initially, to have full control of shutdown decisions, so the length of the chain of command could be crucial.
Martin Fowlie said that BirdLife International’s partner organisations have the potential to work with energy companies in every country along the flyway. An online ‘Sensitivity Mapping Tool’ will help to highlight where a windfarm could harm birds. “Development of renewable energy is crucial,” he said, “but it must be in the right way and the right place.”