Washington View: Birds, bats, taxpayers pay for wind power

[Wayne Harrison]

It is well known that wind turbines can be devastating to birds and bats. The infamous Altamont wind farm in California is a prime example. Each of Altamont's 5,000 wind turbines produces enough electricity to serve 20 homes. But the facility, which admittedly has older, more lethal wind turbines, kills more birds of prey than any other wind farm in the world as golden eagles, hawks, and other raptors fly into the spinning turbine blades.

Wind energy companies have attempted to reduce the bird kills by redesigning turbines and blades. They have worked hard at Altamont as well, but a recent five-year study by the California Energy Commission estimates that every year up to 1,300 raptors are killed, including more than a hundred golden eagles.

The problem: Altamont is a good place for wind power, but one of the worst possible places for wildlife.

Unfortunately, that is often the case elsewhere as well. For example, researchers in West Virginia were shocked to discover that a single 44-turbine wind farm in the Appalachian Mountains killed as many as 4,000 migratory bats. Similar findings have been reported at wind farms in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

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[erebus]

Why isn't this in Open Talk? There's no caving in it.

[graveleye]

Why isn't this in Open Talk? There's no caving in it.

Just keeping you on your toes!!

[David_Weaver]

Hi Wayne,

I can see the Altamont windfarm from my living room. Many of the >10,000 windmills here were early R&D efforts dating back to the 70s. Many of the companies that constructed them are out of business. There were some wacky designs out there for a while. The most bizarre were these 60' tall egg beaters. They had a vertical shaft with a pair of helix shaped blades. I haven't seen any of those standing for a few years. Many of the older units have blown apart and are scattered in the cow fields where they stood.

An interesting side note on R&D in the electrical market. Companies such as PG&E are subsidized to perform R&D for alternative energy. But there is minimal incentive for them to actually implement their successes. (This was the case as of two years ago. I haven't followed the details recently.)

There are efforts underway to upgrade the windmills. While the driving motivation for the upgrades is to create larger, fewer, more efficient units, there are research efforts under way to reduce casualties to wildlife. Research has looked at WHY birds fly into the blades. In some cases, they almost seem attracted to them. Research has looked at ways to paint the blades, change their RPM, etc. From what I've seen, they are all looking at visual queues to the birds.

This was the first I had heard specifically about bats being impacted. I guess the birds have a better PR firm than our friendly bats.

David

[Sean Ryan]

Some homeowners in Vermont are looking to take up the plight of the bats in the wind turbines, although they might be motivated by their mountain views being blocked by windmills more than bat conservation.

I've seen an emerging swarm of bats scatter when a predator's around. I'm assuming there's some sound they give out that lets the others know to stay away. If there would be some way to make the windmills give off this sound, the bats would stay away and we'd get guilt-free wind power, right?

[icave]

I know the some people at the Pennsylvania Game Commission have looked into the bat casualties in WV in determining how the new wind farms may effect bats in PA. I'm not sure if it was done through the PA Game Commission, or as a part of other research projects. Also, the PA game commission has been tracking Indiana bats on their migratory routes (which tyically take them through some of the prime wind turbine areas in PA). I also know that the game commission was going to do some more tracking this year. My feeling from talking to people at the game commission was that this issue has been being looked into for several years, so bats do bear some consideration.

Over two years ago, I was doing some work for a gas compressor station in upstate NY, near the location of a proposed wind farm. A copy of the EIS was sitting around the station, so I read through it. (Yes, I know it's kind of lame that I would read an EIS in my spare time.) The interesting point to me was that bats were also being considered in the EIS. Actually, bats were far more of a consideration than birds.

Bats and wind farms are nothing new. Let's just hope the research continues to lead to more bat friendly designs. I'd hate to loose more of my free insect repellent!