Impacts of wind energy projects on site integrity. Monitoring & mitigation measures in Spain.

Transcription

1 Impacts of wind energy projects on site integrity. Monitoring & mitigation measures in Spain. Manuela de Lucas, PhD Applied Ecology Group

2 Strait of Gibraltar

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4 One of the most important bird migration route

5 120,000 black kites (Milvus migrans)

6 115,000 storks (Ciconia ciconia)

7 4,500 black storks (Ciconia nigra)

8 19,000 short toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus)

9 5 pairs of Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

10 12 pairs of short toed eagles

11 20 25 pairs of Montagu s Harrier (Circus pygargus)

12 300 pairs of Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus)

13 Dispersal area for Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti)

14 20 wind farms and more than 300 turbines

15 Contiguous wind farms without any distinction

16 Griffon vulture was the most affected species by mortality De Lucas et al Journal Applied Ecology 45:

17 New wind farms were constructed in EIA positive Some additional mitigation measurements

18 Colony Wind farm area is surrounded by griffon vulture colonies

19 Surveillance program: mortality searchers by observers during the whole year and all daylight. Daily basis throughout the area.

20 Surveillance program: stopping turbines on demand Dangerous situation when a trajectory will involve collision

21 Surveillance program: cover up carrion Move to feeding stations

22 13 wind farms 10 of them with with stopping on demand Two study periods: before stops after stops De Lucas et al Biological Conservation 147:

23 % Raptors Passerines Bats Water Birds Galliformes Paserif_afin Owls Raptor was the most affected group by collision, but be careful with passerines and bats

24 Griffon Vulture Kestrel Black Kite Short-toed Eagle Booted Eagle Lesser Kestrel Common Buzzard Montagu's Harrier Egyptian Vulture Sparrowhawk Marsh Harrier Honey Buzzard Osprey Kestrel/Lesser Kestrel Red Kite Black shouldered Kite Peregrine Bonelli's Eagle Merlin

25 Spatial distribution of mortality Number of Turbines Number of Griffon Vulture Deaths Nº dead griffon vultures Seasonal distribution of mortality 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Months

26 49% of reduction in griffon vulture mortality rate

27 49% reduction in mortality rate 0.07% per year reduction in total energy production

28 Surveillance program

29 To sum up 1. There are very significant differences in mortality rates of adjacent wind farms,with the fatalities concentrated in few turbines. 2. There is an urgent need to improve assessment tools to aprioriidentify those locations where the risk of collision is high. 3. The selective turbine stopping is an useful mitigation measure, especially when focusing on the most dangerous turbines during migratory periods. It should be considered as an emergency measure and not as a tool to justify the construction of wind farms in sensitive areas.

30 Several proposals Only 20 accepted based on variables taken in EIA studies High mortality index Why??? Ferrer et al Journal of Applied Ecology 49: 38 46

31 2,2 Birds per turbine and year (square root transformed) 2,0 1,8 1,6 1,4 1,2 1,0 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,9 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 Birds per hour (log tranformed) NO relationships between EIA variables and real mortality

32 2,0 Vultures per turbine and year (square root transformed) 1,8 1,6 1,4 1,2 1,0 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,2 0,0-0, Vultures per hour Light relationship between vulture mortality and number of vulture flying

33 To summarize the results 1. There are some weaknesses in the common methodology used in risk assessment studies 2. There is an urgent need to improve assessment studies considering a change in the scale used in EIAs (exact locations of turbines), weather variables and species specific observations.

34 We simulated wind flows in a aerodynamic wind tunnel and compare with the observed flight trajectories of griffon vultures De Lucas et al PLoS ONE 7(11): e48092

35 No differences detected between model and real movements of vultures Vultures use the wind flows to their main movements!!!

36 Now we are working with GPS trackers with the Uva Bits System

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38 The system consists on a base station, some relays and GPS trackers Communicate in the reception area

39 Our GPS emits every 3 seconds (high resolution) inside wind farm area and now we have more than 80,000 locations

40 Different use of the space during breeding and non breeding seasons

41 Different altitudes inside and outside the wind farm area

42 Thank you for your attention Thanks to