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Wind Power News: Bats
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Fears for bats sink bid for wind turbine on edge of Carlisle
Plans for a wind turbine on the outskirts of Carlisle have been rejected – to help protect local bats. H&H Group had wanted to build a 112ft high structure at their Borderway Mart on Montgomery Road in Rosehill. But officials raised fears that some rare species of bat could be affected by the proposed development. At a meeting of Carlisle City Council’s development control committee, members heard that H&H had proposed to monitor the effect on the local bat population . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines generate more hoary bat deaths than expected
SunEdison, owner of the Kaheawa Wind Projects I and II above Maalaea, is asking the state for permission to increase the number of Hawaiian hoary bats and nene that may be accidentally killed by its wind turbines. SunEdison met with the state Endangered Species Recovery Committee on Oahu on Tuesday to solicit comments on a draft of proposed amendments to the renewable energy developer’s Habitat Conservation Plan. The Missouri-based company is seeking to increase to 80 the number of Hawaiian . . . Complete story »
Maui wind farm owner wants higher limit on bat, nene kills
SunEdison Inc., owner of two wind farms on Maui, wants the government to increase the number of endangered Hawaiian hoary bats its turbines are allowed to kill. SunEdison said it has confirmed three bat fatalities at the second of its two wind farms since it began operations in 2012. It is allowed to kill 14 bats over the 20-year life span of the second wind farm, which has 14 turbines. The company wants to be permitted to kill 80 bats. . . . Complete story »
Wind industry makes ‘big move’ to reduce bat collisions
The wind energy industry announced a plan today aimed at reducing by a third the number of bats killed by turbines. The plan, developed by the American Wind Energy Association and backed strongly by bat advocates, would reduce the speed of turbines during bats’ fall migration, preventing up to 100,000 bat deaths annually with only minor losses in electricity generation. The new operating protocol has been adopted by 17 of AWEA’s member companies that last year owned about 60 percent . . . Complete story »
Wind industry plans serious changes to protect bats
Migratory bats, for some reason, have a lethal attraction to wind turbines. Now, they may get help via “feathering.” New industry guidelines, to be announced Thursday, aim to save tens of thousands of bats each year by idling turbines at low wind speeds during peak bat migration season. They could reduce by a third the number of bats killed at wind farms. Seventeen members of the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, have agreed voluntarily to begin idling, or . . . Complete story »
European Bat Night: helping endangered bats matter
With regard to wildlife, green energy is not always green. Migratory birds and resident bats struggle with wind turbines that not only disrupt their normal pathways, but also cause them to die. This happens either directly by collision - or through something called barotrauma. Changes in air pressure caused by massive displacement of air from moving wind turbine blades can severely injure the inner organs of bats - and cause major damage to their complex ears, on which they depend to hear their own echolocation calls for orientation and foraging. Complete story »
Windkraftanlagen Windkraft im Wald zerstört Leben
[A new study describes the fatal consequences of wind energy for bats and endangered bird species.] Ihre riesigen Rotorblätter drehen sich hoch über den Wipfeln der Bäume, ihre langen Türme fußen auf gerodeten Flächen, die immer für Fahrzeuge zugänglich sein müssen: Windkraftanlagen im Wald sind ein Szenario, das künftig in Deutschland häufiger zu sehen sein wird, geht es nach dem Willen der Politik und der beteiligten Konzerne. Aber es ist auch eine Aussicht, die viele Naturschützer mit Skepsis begleiten. Sie . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine or tree? Certain bats might not know
FORT COLLINS, Colorado – Certain bats may be approaching wind turbines after mistaking them for trees, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, led by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Paul Cryan, was the first to use video surveillance cameras to watch bats for several months flying at night near experimentally manipulated wind turbines and led to the discovery that tree-roosting bats, or “tree bats,” may approach and interact with wind turbines . . . Complete story »
Bats killed by wind turbines ‘because they mistake them for trees’
Hundreds of thousands of bats are being killed every year because they mistake wind turbines for tall trees, a study has suggested. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers were looking to find out why bats interact so closely with the moving blades of wind turbines. Before the construction of wind turbines, instances of bats colliding with man-made structures were rarely observed. However, hundreds of thousands are now killed annually, with most found dead beneath the . . . Complete story »
Bats may mistake wind turbines for trees
Some species of bats may mistake wind turbines for tall trees, and follow seemingly familiar air flow patterns to their doom. US researchers used thermal and infra-red surveillance cameras to observe bat behaviour around three wind turbines over three months, and report their results in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.. The surveillance footage showed bats most often approached the wind turbines from downwind, and tended to do so more when the wind speed was lower. The bats – . . . Complete story »
