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ID stat: innovative technology for assessing wildlife collisions with wind turbines

Abstract

Full text: Assessing wildlife mortality resulting from collision with wind turbines is a recurring concern for conservationists and governmental agencies around the world. Monitoring wildlife fatality is often based on carcass searches below the turbines. However, the efficiency of this technique is known to have many biases, or even be unfeasible in some areas (e.g. offshore wind farms and heavily vegetated environments). To solve this problem, we have developed a system that uses specifically-designed microphones placed within turbine blades to record individual collisions of birds or bats with the blades. The accompanying data loggers contain software that uses acoustical signatures to filter noises produced by the shock on the blade by birds and bats (down to 2.5 grams), from those produced by other objects (rain drops, insects, mechanical noises, etc.). Every time a collision occurs, the system automatically sends the information (sensor ID and turbine, time, etc.) to a remotely located server. Collision can be signalled instantaneously on a cell phone so a ground search can be done soon after the collision under the turbine where the event occurred. After field validation, the system will ultimately allow for quantification of mortality in areas that were previously inaccessible (e.g. offshore wind  More>>
Publication Date:
Jul 01, 2011
Product Type:
Technical Report
Report Number:
NINA-R-693
Resource Relation:
Conference: Conference on wind energy and wildlife impacts, Trondheim (Norway), 05/02/2011--05/05/2011; Other Information: Conference on wind energy and wildlife impacts, 2-5 May 2011, Trondheim, Norway| 140 p.; Conference Literature; Abstracts prepared by author
Subject:
17 WIND ENERGY; WIND POWER; RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES; WIND TURBINES; WILD ANIMALS; COLLISIONS; BIRDS; BATS; AVOIDANCE; MORTALITY; COMPUTER CODES
OSTI ID:
1023992
Research Organizations:
Norsk Inst. for Naturforskning, Trondheim (Norway)
Country of Origin:
Norway
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: Rel-TRN: NO1105319; TRN: NO1105332
Availability:
Available at: http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/PppBasePdf/rapport/2011/693.pdf
Submitting Site:
NW
Size:
p. 22 pages
Announcement Date:
Sep 12, 2011

Citation Formats

Delprat, Bertrand, and Alcuri, Gustavo. ID stat: innovative technology for assessing wildlife collisions with wind turbines. Norway: N. p., 2011. Web.
Delprat, Bertrand, & Alcuri, Gustavo. ID stat: innovative technology for assessing wildlife collisions with wind turbines. Norway.
Delprat, Bertrand, and Alcuri, Gustavo. 2011. "ID stat: innovative technology for assessing wildlife collisions with wind turbines." Norway.
@misc{etde_1023992,
title = {ID stat: innovative technology for assessing wildlife collisions with wind turbines}
author = {Delprat, Bertrand, and Alcuri, Gustavo}
abstractNote = {Full text: Assessing wildlife mortality resulting from collision with wind turbines is a recurring concern for conservationists and governmental agencies around the world. Monitoring wildlife fatality is often based on carcass searches below the turbines. However, the efficiency of this technique is known to have many biases, or even be unfeasible in some areas (e.g. offshore wind farms and heavily vegetated environments). To solve this problem, we have developed a system that uses specifically-designed microphones placed within turbine blades to record individual collisions of birds or bats with the blades. The accompanying data loggers contain software that uses acoustical signatures to filter noises produced by the shock on the blade by birds and bats (down to 2.5 grams), from those produced by other objects (rain drops, insects, mechanical noises, etc.). Every time a collision occurs, the system automatically sends the information (sensor ID and turbine, time, etc.) to a remotely located server. Collision can be signalled instantaneously on a cell phone so a ground search can be done soon after the collision under the turbine where the event occurred. After field validation, the system will ultimately allow for quantification of mortality in areas that were previously inaccessible (e.g. offshore wind farms) and the standardization of mortality data collection across wide geographic areas. The remote monitoring capabilities of the system will also allow for low-cost, accurate, long-term mortality monitoring. (Author)}
place = {Norway}
year = {2011}
month = {Jul}
}