How Black Paint Can Reduce Bird Deaths From Wind Turbines

Wind turbines Kill many birds, especially eagles and other Raptors. The exact number is unknown, because many of the world Wind farmer Do not monitor the death of birds. One of the idea of ​​mitigating to reduce these numbers – and reduce a political argument against wind turbines – traction: drawing one black turbine blade. ecology Roel May Talk with IEEE SICTRUM About him Study 11 years To reduce Raptor deaths, and his amazement in lukewarm reactions from wind raising engineers.

How bad is Wind turbines For birds?

Roel May: This depends a lot on the place where the turbines are placed, and whether there are raising areas or feed nearby, and the types of birds. If wind turbines are placed in the middle of the weak population, the effect may be very large. This is what happened Norway On the SM bot, it is a hot point for white tail eagles. This is where we studied.

Why are the eagles vulnerable to wind turbine?

maybe: Rapptor types like eagles are very good in flying, but they do not look directly forward; They look down on the ground for the prey. They want to use updrafts for its height, but Updrafts is common near the hills where wind conditions are good for turbines. This is a bad mix.

Is the wind turbine type a difference?

maybe: The larger turbines kill more birds because their blades occupy more space. But when wind turbines are smaller, there is often more than them, so the wind farms may end up killing birds more than farms that contain less and larger turbines at least in the beach. Marine wind farms It is difficult to study: You cannot calculate the exact number of birds that die because you cannot find them; They fall into the sea and go. Some researchers try to record a collision with Bird radarand CamerasAnd other systems.

I found that the Blade Black paint resulted in a 70 percent decrease in bird deaths. Should all this wind farms do?

maybe: Our study is something that must be repeated elsewhere because there are possible effects on the site and for species. Group Holland Coated blades and have not seen a clear effect. So we need more studies. There is one study that takes place South Africa Where are they? I drew a red bladeAnd some others who areStarting in Wyomingand ItalyAnd Spain. the UK PlanningExperimental project For marine turbines. But it is difficult to do these studies because the operator must get exemptions from the regulations to draw the blades and employ accredited two painters who can Rappeel up and down. It takes a lot of time. We collected data on the eagles in SMTI for seven years before drawing the blades. After we drew, we spent another four years studying antiquities.

How the engineers responded to your studies?

maybe: Many people of turbine manufacturers asked if you have thought about the technical effects of this. I did not, because I am an environmental scientist, not an engineer. It is clear that black blades will heat more than white blades, which may cause structural effects. The black carbon paint is made, which can affect the performance of the turbine when it is beaten Lightning. Engineers do not like it. So we need to overcome these disciplinary silos and work together to develop measures for job mitigation.

This article appears in the case of the printing of June 2025 as “Rewail May”.