Wind Energy and Wildlife: Challenges and their Solutions

MDCRES - Wind Energy and Wildlife: Challenges and their Solutions

Wind energy will play a substantial role in decarbonizing the U.S. energy system and will require broad-scale deployment and geographic expansion of wind energy.

However, wind energy development can have environmental impacts. Collision risk to bats and raptors and behavioral disturbance to prairie grouse are the primary concern for land-based wind energy. These impacts may have population-level consequences for certain species. Moreover, they may limit renewable energy production by delaying project development or altering normal turbine operations.

For nearly 25 years, the wind industry, government agencies, and researchers have partnered to develop cost-effective solutions to achieve both conservation and energy production goals. This presentation will summarize our current state of the science on wind energy and wildlife interactions and strategies to reduce risk.

TIMELINE:

00:00 Welcome and announcements - Lindsay Tyson
02:52 Policy update and news - Lindsay Tyson
07:35 Presentation - Dr. Cris Hein
45:32 Q&A

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:

Dr. Cris Hein is the Senior Project Leader for the Environmental Portfolio at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Cris received his Ph.D. in Forestry and Natural Resources from the University of Georgia in 2008. Cris has studied bat behavior and ecology for 24 years, with the last 15 years focused on bats and wind energy interactions.

A question and answer session followed the presentation.

The program was hosted by Lindsay Tyson, MDCRES Chair.

ABOUT CRES:

CRES features several local monthly speaker series throughout the state, provides speakers, experts, and workshops, and weighs in on state energy policy.

[patrickstarrfish]

Advocating a 100percent renewable power grid is insanity for a developed first-world country. Just came back from a trip to EU, and nothing but windmills for as far as the eye could see on either side of the motorway to Vienna from Brno CZH, while I drove by the nuclear plant that was mothballed after construction without even being used.

Never mind that Colorado gets winter for part of the year. If you advocate for carbon reduction and want to help divert climate change, nuclear fission is absolutely required

The CRES and Sierra Club is delusional—“Commitment” and “pathway” without nuclear power is meaningless preaching not grounded in reality or basic economics.

You would need to cover the state with panels and windmills and you’d still freeze or have the lights out, even with batteries the size of football stadiums.

How’s that “modelling and analysis” going? Such rainbow and unicorns talk from PHDs with zero common sense.