Finding Innovative Solutions to Reducing the Threat of Wind Turbines to Bats
Wind energy is an important part of a successful renewable energy portfolio. Yet globally, millions of bats die each year due to collisions with wind turbines, and bat fatalities are expected to increase with planned expansion of wind energy development around the world. BCI’s Bats and Wind program works to reduce bat fatalities at wind energy facilities, protecting bat populations and making wind energy production a more sustainable practice. Finding solutions that help the wind energy industry reduce its impact on biodiversity can help us establish a viable renewable energy strategy that can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Objectives
- Accelerate research to address knowledge gaps in relevant bat ecology and behavior
- Develop technologies and industry methods to reduce the fatality of bats at wind farms
- Promote implementation of solutions that ensure long-term persistence of bats
Program Details
We continue our efforts to conduct high-impact research to develop solutions to reduce mortality of bats at wind energy facilities. We focus on discovering and testing scalable and practical solutions that enable renewable energy production that is compatible with bat conservation. Our work encompasses not only technological solutions, but also improving our understanding of bat behavior around wind turbines to lead to new insights and innovations. We work with a diversity of stakeholders, including government agencies, private industry, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations, to accelerate solutions to this global challenge.
Impacted Bats
The impacts of wind energy facilities on bats
- Data suggests that millions of bats die each year at wind energy facilities
- Bat species that make long distance seasonal migrations are the most vulnerable to fatalities
- High fatality rates at wind energy facilities have raised concerns about rapid and severe population declines of the Hoary Bat in North America
Michael Schirmacher
BCI works with diverse partners, including energy developers, to:
- Develop technological tools to better understand fatality risk and attraction to inform scalable solutions and high-priority research
- Test cost-effective strategies to reduce bat fatalities using smart curtailment approaches that reduce risk to bats while maximizing power generation opportunities
- Evaluate the efficacy of acoustic deterrents on wind turbines to reduce bat fatalities
Michael Schirmacher
What causes bat fatalities at wind turbines?
Most bat fatalities are caused by bats colliding with rotating blades of wind turbines. Fatalities are highest during autumn migration and on nights with low wind speeds. Some bats may be attracted to wind turbines, increasing risk of impacts to bat populations.
Multiple Turbine Blade Encounters by a Bat
BCI has been a pioneer in using thermal imaging to learn how bats interact with wind turbines. In this video, thermal imaging reveals how a bat explores and then is struck by rotating blades of a wind turbine. The bat is the small white object that is first seen moving behind the turbine in the lower right of the screen. The bat maneuvers around the rotating blades before being struck. As it falls, it is hit by another blade. Bats dying from collisions like these are a growing threat to populations with expanding wind energy development. Our work to understand and monitor flight behavior of bats at turbines is helping develop bat friendly wind power.
We are committed to finding a solution
- We are a founding member and partner of the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC) – a stakeholder-supported alliance established in 2004 to advance research, facilitate dialogue, and foster collaboration
- We accelerate research and develop technologies and industry methods to reduce fatalities of bats at wind turbine facilities
- We analyze data to assess population-level impacts of bat fatalities to inform conservation planning for migratory bat species killed at wind energy facilities
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The Wind Team
Michael Whitby, M.S. – Director, Bats and Wind
Michael has 12 years of experience working on bat conservation in academic, public, and private settings. He has studied bat distribution and behavior with acoustic and capture techniques, radio-telemetry, thermal imagery, and NEXRAD RADAR. Michael specializes in the use of emerging technology and advanced analytical techniques to find practical solutions to wide-spread conservation challenges.
He holds a B.S. from the University of Maine and an M.S. from Ball State University.
Teague O’Mara, Ph.D. – Director of Conservation Evidence
Dr. Teague O’Mara serves as the Director of Conservation Evidence. He leads efforts across Bat Conservation International to conceptualize, execute, and interpret conservation actions, and provide evidence-based results for conservation of global bat populations.
Teague has more than 15 years of experience studying animal behavior, movement, physiology, and conservation across the globe. He has published more than 30 scientific research papers and is a recognized global expert on bat movement and behavior. Prior to joining BCI his research focused on the behavioral and physiological strategies that bats use to counter unpredictable environments. He applies a data-driven process to understand the interaction between bats and their environment to better plan effective conservation strategies.
Teague is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Biology at Southeastern Louisiana University and is a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University.
Email: [email protected]
Winifred Frick, Ph.D. – Chief Scientist
Dr. Winifred Frick serves as our Chief Scientist and leads scientific research that informs our evidence-based approaches to conservation. She is responsible for integrating science and conservation at Bat Conservation International to achieve lasting impact for bats around the world.
Dr. Frick has more than 20 years of experience studying bat ecology and conservation biology. She has published more than 80 scientific research papers and is a recognized global expert on bat ecology and conservation. She directs high-priority research and development of scalable solutions for achieving meaningful conservation outcomes for bats, including research on the threat of climate change, the disease White-nose Syndrome, and contributing conservation evidence to protect bats globally.
Dr. Frick is an Associate Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies.
Email: [email protected]
We Support Climate Change Solutions & Protecting Bats from Wind Turbines
Key Collaborators
- Academic researchers
- Environmental consultant companies
- Government agencies
- Industry groups
- Non-governmental organizations
- Technology developers and distributors
- Wind facility developers & operators
- Wind turbine manufacturers
Arteum.roAt Bat Conservation International, we work to identify and implement measures that assure bats persist amid growing wind energy development, an important tool in our battle against climate change.
Director, Bats and Wind
