HOW TO REDUCE MORTALITY OF BIRDS FROM ELECTRIC POWER FACILITIES?
General causes of damage to the animal world from human activities: •destruction of habitat, •pollution of water, air, soil, •poaching, •climate change.
Specific causes of mortality of large flying animals (birds and bats): • electric shock on transmission lines; • collisions with fixed high-rise objects (buildings, chimney-stalks, cooling towers, power masts etc); • collisions with moving objects (in our case blades of wind turbines).
Electric shock on transmission lines The decision is clear: bird-protecting devices.
The best decisions are insulated wires or underground cables
Biggest blackout in Belarus Cause: the crow’s nest on switchgear made from wire
The problem
Max effect for nature
Max effect for power system
Collisions with fixed high-rise objects a) Selecting locations for construction of objects we should take into account frequency of bird spans and flying b) We should to design more birdfriendly constructions
Radars allow to see bird’s movement USA have bird migration maps. We need maps for all man-used areas
Feel the difference
Solar panels don’t damage birds
Thermal solar power plants burn birds in zone of concentrating rays
Collisions with wind turbines Most susceptible to wind turbine collisions are: •raptors, •night-migrating songbirds, •grassland birds.
Operators can stop wind turbines when birds approaches. We need to nudge them to do so.
Local conditions strictly affects on bird and bat mortality
Bird scaring and distracting • Colour • Light • Sound
People do not like wind turbines too noticeable So they lead it aren’t noticeable for birds.
• 61,984 bat carcasses • 21,470 bird carcasses • 701 raptor carcasses This numbers mean that birds and bats are attracted by insects
What colour attract and repell insects? • • • •
Yellow - most attractive colour White, light grey – moderately attractive Red – moderate repell Purple – least attractive
Collisions with rotating wind blades The probability of damage increases with the bird’s wingspan
Optimal (for energy producers) speed of blade’s tips is 6-10 times large than wind speed
2/3 of bats are damaged by barotrauma Are birds sensitive to pressure jumps?
Should wind turbines rotate in a weak wind?
Questions we need Answers • Does the location and operation of windmills affect the density of insects in the air, attracting insectivorous, and behind them raptors? • What are the pressure spikes behind the blades and the dimensions of the areas of low pressure? • How does the probability of injury to birds depend on their size? • What is the distribution of injury types for different bird species and wind turbines (mechanical damage or barotrauma)?
Should we request wind blade producers about best for birds blade design?
Future of wind power
Anyway wind turbines cause less damage per kWh than fossil fuel
Can we escape wind turbines number growth?
To develop new weather-independent renewables
Thank you for your attention! Igor Shkradyuk Biodiversity Conservation Center Moscow, Russia www.biodiversity.ru igorshkradyuk@gmail.com +7 910 9619942, +7 964 5973944