North American Windpower, the wind energy trade publication, is running in its April edition two stories on managing the wildlife challenge. The first, from Duke Energy, takes us in the field and describes Duke’s avian mitigation program at the Top of the World wind facility in Wyoming. The second, from Stantec, takes a systemic, cross-cutting viewpoint and makes the case for collaborative priority-setting and pooled funding approaches to wind-wildlife studies and research. Each mentions AWWI as a collaborative model that is showing the way forward.
In the first story, Duke’s Tammy McGee describes Duke Energy Renewables’ informed curtailment program at its Top of the World facility in Wyoming. The program relies on “an on-site wildlife supervisor and six wildlife specialists, who are on the site during daylight hours 365 days a year” and curtails the site’s wind turbines when eagles are detected as flying in the vicinity, according to Duke.
Duke is also testing a camera system to detect eagles at this facility. “This technology is showing very promising results,” says Duke biologist Tim Hayes, who is also a member of the AWWI Board of Directors. “The American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) will coordinate an independent and transparent assessment of the camera detection technology, which will benefit the entire industry. Duke Energy is an active member in AWWI and is engaged in all of its research initiatives,” says Hayes. The article concludes by stressing the value of science and collaboration: […] “we recognize that no one can do it alone,” says Hayes. “It’s vital that the industry works together in a transparent and collaborative manner. If the true environmental impacts aren’t clearly identified and addressed in a rapid manner, using the best science and technology available, it will be difficult to reach wind’s full potential.” Read the full article here.
In the second story, Steve Pelletier, a principal with Stantec, an environmental consulting firm, shows how costly the current wildlife assessment process can still be in the field: “The time and money being spent on these studies are not being efficiently managed for the best protection of the species. Agencies, consultants, nonprofit research organizations and developers are all dedicating significant resources to this kind of assessment work. But – at least within the constraints of our current system – these independent efforts aren’t able to leverage and build off of each other to produce results that improve our collective understanding of the risks and effects of wind power on wildlife in relation to other threats.”
The solution? “A structured, collective issue-identification and funding program that provides pooled research funding to help offset targeted project concerns.” The article offers AWWI as an example of such a collaborative program and model.
The main obstacle, notes Pelletier, is funding. Pelletier stresses the need for mechanisms to ramp up funding levels and to efficiently collect and prioritize funding. “Funding is absolutely the biggest challenge.” Read the full article here.
The April issue of North American Windpower will get special distribution at the AWEA WINDPOWER 2016 annual conference and exhibition.