NatForWINSENT III

Research question / Project objectives

This project, which continues nature conservation research at the South German onshore wind energy test field (‘NatForWINSENT-III’), aims to gain a better understanding of the occurrence and behaviour of bats and birds at wind turbines and, based on this, to optimise existing avoidance measures and, in particular, to develop and test innovative technical avoidance measures. To this end, technical systems for recording and identifying species and their behaviour have been developed in the previous phases (NatForWINSENT-II) and will continue to be used. Using these and already established techniques, extensive data on birds (especially red kites), bats and insects is being collected and combined with various meteorological data from the test field in order to determine weather dependencies of behaviour.

Procedure

Sensor-based detection of birds (radar, and in particular red kites using telemetry and LRF) and bats (acoustics, thermal imaging technology) is being continued at research wind turbines that are now in operation. In doing so, we are increasingly relying on automated evaluations, in particular of the innovative detection techniques developed, such as stereo thermal imaging of bat flight paths and the detection of insect abundance using camera traps. The evaluation of camera-based collision victim detection is also being further developed. The data is also collected during different operating modes of the wind turbines in order to draw conclusions, e.g. on the danger to birds and bats at different rotor speeds.

The data collected and evaluations thus also specify and improve the requirements for technical avoidance measures such as shutdown algorithms and anti-collision systems. The latter will continue to be tested for performance as part of the project.

The result should be a substantial gain in knowledge about the behaviour of birds and bats at wind turbines, from which practical recommendations for the implementation and design of technical avoidance measures at wind turbines, in particular, can be derived.