Australia could save thousands of bats a year with simple tweak to wind turbines, study says
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/australia-wind-turbines-simple-tweak-save-bat-lives-study
by DaRedGuy
Australia could save thousands of bats a year with simple tweak to wind turbines, study says
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/australia-wind-turbines-simple-tweak-save-bat-lives-study
by DaRedGuy
2 comments
Do it – stop talking about it !
Also many of the utility companies leave many wind turbines unused to reduce wear when the demand is low.
The alternative is reducing turning speed and use more wind turbines at the same time.
Cost is roughly the same over time, since wear and maintenance on unused vs used is the same.
Especially for slower speeds !
I work for a renewables utilities company in Europe and it’s indeed a very common measure that’s adopted in most areas, especially if the baseline studies during the environmental impact assessments show high presence of bats in the area.
A considerable part of the time, the difference between cut in speeds of the turbines according to their manufacturer’s specs and the limitations imposed for bat protection are not even that significant, so the impacts on electricity production are not that high for it to even be an argument.