A team of researchers at Oregon State University is working to develop technologies to monitor how wind turbines coexist with birds and bats – from large birds, like golden eagles, to smaller marine birds, like marbled murrelets.
The project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) in partnership with the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), aims to develop technologies that can detect contact with birds and bats to help better understand how wildlife co-exists with wind farms.
The goal of this research is to make this technology commercially available for land-based and offshore wind turbines to prevent harmful interactions between wind energy and surrounding wildlife, which can result in reduced public approval or even legal action. In 2022, a subsidiary unit of NextEra Energy was fined and placed on probation by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with golden eagles killed by wind turbine blades.
To determine if a bird or bat has contacted a wind turbine blade, the research team installed accelerometers to provide real-time data on structural vibrations (contacts) and acoustic recordings (noises from approaching wildlife) that would result from such interactions.
To obtain data and test the devices without harming wildlife, the research team used tennis balls to mimic the movements of wildlife. The data collected from these tests was then used to tune and validate the system.
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Data from these artificial wildlife impact tests in New Mexico and Colorado were used to expand the team’s wildlife monitoring platform. The platform now includes a multi-sensor system comprised of blade-mounted cameras and vibration sensors. The result is around-the-clock measurements, detection of bird or bat calls, and pictures or videos of wildlife potentially approaching wind turbines.
“Our work is to be the eyes and ears, so to speak, of wind turbines to help biologists and wind farm operators better understand these wildlife interactions,” said Matthew Johnston, a researcher at Oregon State University.
In a related project, the research team partnered with wildlife biologists to explore methods to deter eagles from passing through wind farms, including the use of inflatable, kinetic “air dancer” devices more commonly used to attract customers to sales lots and businesses, acting like moving scarecrows.
Additionally, in a project with similar goals, Ørsted recently invested in technology company Spoor AI to improve birdlife data collection and analysis at its offshore wind farms around the world.
Additionally, the research team collaborated with computer scientists to explore methods to detect and identify specific bird species flying close to rotor blades using a camera mounted on the wind turbine. These techniques could be used in the future to pause wind turbine operations when protected species are nearby.
The goal of this research is to make this technology commercially available for land-based and offshore wind turbines to prevent harmful interactions between wind energy and surrounding wildlife, which can result in reduced public approval or even legal action. In 2022, a subsidiary unit of NextEra Energy was fined and placed on probation by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with golden eagles killed by wind turbine blades.
