[va-bird] Re: windpower Post article
- From: Tom Gray <tomgray@xxxxxxx>
- To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 21:29:54 -0500
Rick,
Good post, but I think I must pick a few nits (see below).
Regards,
Tom Gray
American Wind Energy Association
At 05:56 PM 12/27/2003 -0500, Rick Webb wrote:
William,
In response to your questions, this is what I understand concerning
potential avian impacts of wind development in the Appalachian Mountains:
- Migrating birds and bats tend to be channeled along our north-south
oriented ridges in their twice yearly migrations. These are the same
locations where turbines are most favorably located for maximum wind power
potential.
With regard to bats, I'll accept this, in view of the unexpectedly high number
of bats killed at the new Mountaineer wind project in West Virginia (~500
carcasses found during this year's fall migration, actual numbers killed may
be several times higher due to fact that carcasses are small, easily missed by
searchers and easily scavenged). This is a serious issue that is already being
researched.
With regard to birds, it is still a theory that is not supported by the
fatality
numbers from Mountaineer. Another theory is that many birds use valleys for
migration.
- Modern turbines can be as high as 465 feet tall, including rotors
(blades). The blades sweep large areas at speeds that are much faster than
birds or bats can detect.
Sentence #1 is correct, sentence #2 unproven.
- Although cell towers are associated with some bird mortality, they are
widely dispersed, they don't have whirling blades, and they have not been
concentrated on mountain ridges.
True. On the other hand, there are many, many more communications towers
installed around the U.S. than wind turbines, and their number is expanding
faster. Also, most are guyed, and the length of guy wire expands exponentially
with height--many researchers feel that the big kills associated with tall
communications towers are partially the result of disoriented birds flying
around them and colliding with the wires.
- Turbines must be lighted at night for aviation safety. Lights may attract
and disorient birds.
- Although much is not known about bird migration patterns and flight
levels, there are times, particularly during low cloud cover, when flight
elevation and turbine height coincide. This would be particularly so when
tower height and ridge height are combined.
- Wind development of the magnitude required to meet renewable energy
objectives will require many thousands of turbines, creating a turbine
gauntlet. For example, one pending project in WV will involve 200 turbines
along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front.
Whether "gauntlet" is an accurate characterization remains to be seen, and
depends to some degree on how accurate the theory about ridgeline
migration is.
- The new Mountaineer Wind Farm in WV provides recent examples of avian
impacts in the Appalachian region, including 30+ birds found killed after
one foggy night last August and 475 bats found killed over the summer of
2003. Total mortality may greatly exceed observed mortality due to
collection inefficiency and removal by scavengers.
Although there is much we don't know about the potential magnitude of the
impact, we do know that the magnitude of wind energy development may be very
large. If this development is to proceed in a responsible manner, we will
not throw caution to the wind. We will go slowly and study the potential
problems carefully.
Rick Webb
Monterey, Virginia
This last is certainly sage counsel. Perhaps we could also keep a few other
things in mind:
- Wind energy has been around for more than 20 years, and our country
now gets 0.4% of its electricity from wind. In general, we HAVE gone
extremely slow, although I realize that the last couple of years have seen
a sudden flurry of proposals in Appalachia.
- In general, wind energy displaces electricity from other sources that are
more damaging to birds and to the biosphere as well. I won't include a
recital here, because I dislike being a "bully" by writing long responses to
short messages. I'll just cite one reference, "The Environmental
Imperative for Renewable Energy: An Update" --it's on the Web and
anyone can find it using Google.
It is appropriate to insist that wind projects be designed and built in such
a way as to minimize environmental impact as far as reasonably possible.
However, the net environmental effect of wind projects is likely to be
strongly positive, even if there are some negative local impacts.
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