Technology with potential to stop wedge-tailed eagle deaths will be installed at a big Central Highlands wind farm development.
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Goldwind Australia said it would install the IdentiFlight aerial monitoring and detection technology system as one of the key initiatives to “mitigate Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle impacts” at the Cattle Hill Wind Farm being constructed on the eastern shore of Lake Echo
Eagle deaths from collisions with wind tower blades have been one of the most controversial issues for Tasmanian wind farms.
The IdentiFlight technology can identify particular birds and shut down turbines if birds are at risk.
Goldwind said it involved tower-mounted optical units which were designed to detect and photograph flying objects and, using algorithms, could identify them as eagles within seconds.
“If an eagle’s speed and flight path indicate a risk of collision with a wind turbine, an alert is generated to shut down the specific wind turbine,” Goldwind said.
It said 16 of the units would be installed at Cattle Hill and they would be able to shut down any of the 48 turbines as needed.
IdentiFlight president Tom Hiester said results from IdentiFlight trials at wind farms in the US had shown its effectiveness in “mitigating impacts on the iconic bald and golden eagles”.
“We developed IdentiFlight to promote the successful coexistence of avian wildlife and wind energy,” he said.
Goldwind managing director John Titchen said Cattle Hill would be the first wind farm in Australia to trial the technology.
“Goldwind Australia understands the importance of balancing the need for clean, renewable energy while protecting Tasmania’s unique wildlife, particularly the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle,” he said.
Goldwind said construction at Cattle Hill started earlier this year and was going well.
The first wind turbine foundation was expected to be poured shortly.
It said the wind farm would provide enough energy for about 63,500 Tasmanian homes.
“This increases Tasmania’s on-island renewable energy generation capacity by approximately 5 per cent and contributes to Tasmania’s ambitious target of becoming fully self-sufficient with renewable energy by 2022,” it said.