Hello, I'm Takamatsu from Rera Tech Inc.. At Rera Tech Inc., I'm in charge of a wide range of matters, including technical support, public relations, general affairs, and human resources.
Recently, we held an offline meeting/workshop where all employees at Relatec gathered. This was actually the first time I had "come to the office" since I started working at Relatec. I was quite nervous about being in a real-life situation, but I was able to once again feel the importance of meeting face-to-face and communicating. We plan to hold this event regularly from now on.
Well, the topic I'm going to introduce this time is,"Research on bird strikes caused by wind power generation (collisions between wind turbines and birds)"is about.
Before constructing a wind turbine, an environmental assessment is carried out and measures are taken to reduce the impact on nature. The main measures include avoiding construction in areas that are home to important bird species and carefully selecting the location and arrangement of the wind turbine. There are also other measures related to the wind turbine itself, such as coloring and warning sounds. This time we looked into the latter.
Among them, there were two very interesting studies.
1. Techniques for painting wind turbine blades
The first study involves painting just one of the blades on a wind turbine black.1)A study was conducted at a Norwegian wind farm from 2013 to 2016 in which one blade of each of four generators was painted. As a result, it was verified that the annual mortality rate of birds was reduced by an average of about 4% compared to normal turbines. The number of tests in this study was small, and there are many unknowns.2)Further research is expected in the future.
2) A device that uses sound to prevent birds from colliding with wind turbines
The second is a study conducted in 2020 at a wind farm in northern Hokkaido that uses distasteful sounds to encourage migratory birds to avoid wind turbines.3).
The "painting the blades" method introduced in the first study is effective during the day, but at night, visibility is reduced and the risk of birds colliding with wind turbines increases. For this reason, this study was conducted mainly as a measure for the nighttime hours.
The results of this verification test confirmed that about 80% of birds were able to avoid the attack. I hope that this type of system will become more widespread and help reduce bird strikes, even if only a little.
The Ministry of the Environment is conducting a demonstration project for adaptive management of offshore wind power generation from 2022 to 2023 as an environmental conservation measure based on the characteristics of offshore wind power generation, with the aim of continuously understanding the environmental impact of operation.4)
This project will optimize environmental conservation methods by verifying methods that can reduce environmental impacts. We hope that bird strike prevention methods will also be verified and optimized.
Bird strikes are an issue in the natural environment that cannot be separated from wind power generation. We hope that various research will continue and that better measures will be implemented to reduce the impact on the natural environment.
(Written by Hiromi Takamatsu)
As wind condition consultants, Rera Tech Inc. will conduct optimal wind condition surveys that combine "observation" and "estimation" for wind power generation. Please feel free to contact us if you have any inquiries regarding wind conditions.
