Exploring Coexistence of Bats & Wind Turbines - CleanTechnica

2022-07-29 22:57:14 By : Mr. Horse Jim

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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has awarded three industry teams funding to support research on bats and wind energy projects. Selected through the NREL Enabling Coexistence Options for Wind Energy and Wildlife (ECO Wind) program’s first competitive request for proposals, which was opened in October 2021, the awardees will receive a portion of the $1.1 million total to research how bats behave near wind turbines and wind power plants.

As wind energy deployment increases around the United States, wind energy project developers must find ways for wind turbines to coexist safely with local wildlife. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office, the ECO Wind program at NREL’s Flatirons Campus supports efforts to protect vulnerable wildlife species while ensuring sustainable deployment of wind energy.

When it comes to wind energy and wildlife, bats are a particular area of concern. Available data indicates that migratory tree-roosting bats, such as the eastern red bat, hoary bat, and silver-haired bat, are most at risk. However, much about these elusive, nocturnal creatures’ interactions with wind turbines remains a mystery.

“For reasons we are still working to understand, some bats seem to be attracted to wind turbines,” said NREL researcher Cris Hein, who leads NREL’s wind energy environmental science portfolio. “In previous studies, we’ve seen bats approach and investigate the different components of wind turbines, including the blades. As bats spend more time flying near the fast-moving blades, the risk of collision increases.”

Understanding this behavior may help improve strategies to minimize these interactions, which can be done with smart curtailment (slowing down or stopping the rotation of turbine blades when bats are present) or deterrents (devices that discourage bats from approaching wind turbines).

The awardees will track bat movements at operating wind energy facilities over the next two years. All three teams will conduct their research using thermal imaging, which uses a special kind of video camera to capture the heat signature of bats’ bodies so they can be detected at night without adding any light.

Bowman → Reston, Virginia, and Wildlife Imaging Systems → Hinesburg, Vermont

Electric Power Research Institute → Washington, D.C.

Stantec Consulting Services Inc. → Topsham, Maine, and Wildlife Imaging Systems → Hinesburg, Vermont

The awardees will provide regular reports throughout the projects on their progress and findings as well as at the end of the two-year study period. The findings will be made publicly accessible through scientific publications. The teams will also discuss their work via virtual webinars that will be made available to the public and shared on NREL’s wind energy website.

To learn more about research on wind energy and wildlife, visit NREL’s ECO Wind: Enabling Coexistence Options for Wind Energy and Wildlife web page and the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office Environmental Impacts and Siting web page.

Article courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Featured image courtesy of John Yarbrough, NREL.

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