Turbine shutdown as an essential tool to prevent soaring bird fatalities at the Gulf of Suez
2022
Online
Konferenz
Zugriff:
Climate change caused by high emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere demands for worldwide reduction in fossil fuel energy production and increased use of wind energy as a clean alternative. However, there is a potential conflict between wildlife conservation and wind energy production. Bird mortalities may be high at windfarms installed along migratory flyways and bottlenecks, where a large number of species and large proportions of their global populations congregate during migration. The Rift Valley/Red Sea (RV-RS) flyway is the second most important flyway in the world for soaring birds, connecting the species’ breeding grounds in Eurasia and the wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. Soaring birds depend on thermals for migration and thus congregate in large numbers at straits and land bridges to avoid long crosses over sea. The Gabel el Zayt in Egypt, classified as an important bird area is an integral part of the RV-RS flyway. It is located on the shores of the Red Sea, south of the Gulf of Suez land bridge, and its geographical configuration funnels the migratory birds through a narrow land strip framed by the Red Sea mountains and the coastline. Wind regimens in Gabel el Zayt are among the best for wind energy production and large windfarms are already operating in the area. To mitigate soaring bird mortalities at the 240 MW Gabel el Zayt windfarm, STRIX conducted radar assisted wind turbine shutdowns during spring migration from 2016 to 2020. STRIX also established a monitoring program to quantify the number of soaring birds migrating daily, further assess the international importance of the site, and evaluate the risk of mortality due to collisions. Fieldwork was conducted daily from early morning to late afternoon at vantage points located at the perimeter and centre of the windfarm. Observers followed all movements of birds within and outside the windfarm and recorded, among other data, time of observation, species, number of individuals, flight height and flight direction. Meteorological ...
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Turbine shutdown as an essential tool to prevent soaring bird fatalities at the Gulf of Suez
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Leitao, Alexandre H ; Moreira, Pedro ; Pires, Nadine ; Cidraes-Vieira, Nuno ; Canario, Filipe ; Repas-Goncalves, Miguel |
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Veröffentlichung: | 2022 |
Medientyp: | Konferenz |
DOI: | 10.5281/zenodo.8374292 |
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