Eagles And Wind Working Together

Eagles are Making Wind Turbines Safer for Birds

Kelly Yaker, March 16, 2016 (U.S. Department of Energy)

“A bald eagle named Spirit and a golden eagle named Nova are helping researchers make wind energy safer for birds…[The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)] partnered with industry to gather data [at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC)] about bird flight patterns, which will help the companies develop technology to reduce bird collisions with turbines…The team conducted 25 flights and collected terabytes of data for the project, which borrowed the two eagles from Auburn University…Two companies -- Laufer Wind and RES Americas -- have avian detection systems installed at the test center…To gather the data, the birds carried a GPS logger, and their flights were conducted at various angles to the two detection systems. By comparing the GPS data collected with the results from the two avian detection systems, developers will be able to better characterize the behavior of their detection algorithms and improve their analysis methods…The ultimate goal is to detect birds flying near a turbine with enough time to for the turbine blades to stop spinning and prevent a collision…” click here for more

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