How to Stop Solar-Power Plants From Incinerating Birds
How to Stop Solar-Power Plants From Incinerating Birds
h, the futuristic project is the Death
Star, incinerating anything that flies through a “solar flux” field
that generates temperatures of 800 degree Fahrenheit when 300,000
mirrors focus the sun on a water-filled boilers that sit on top three
459-foot towers.
“It
appears Ivanpah may act as a ‘mega-trap,’ attracting insects which in
turn attract insect-eating birds, which are incapacitated by solar-flux
injury, thus attracting predators and creating an entire food chain
vulnerable to injury and death,” concluded scientists with the National
Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in a report that investigated 233 bird deaths representing 71 species at three Southern California solar power plants.
It’s
important to put that death toll in context. Every year as many as 988
million birds—that’s not a typo—or nearly 10 percent of the United
States’s avian population, die from colliding with windows, according to
a study published in March. In other words, you and I have bird blood on our hands just from sitting inside our offices and homes.
Still, the report from the forensics laboratory is sure to inflame long-running tensions over the impact of massive desert solar power plants on wildlife
and what kind of trade-offs society is willing to make to fight climate
change. The construction of Ivanpah, which was built by BrightSource
Energy and now is operated by NRG Energy, faced delays when it turned
out the site 45 miles south of Las Vegas is a hot spot for the imperiled
desert tortoise.
The
Fish and Wildlife biologists cautioned that their results are
preliminary and that much more research needs to be done on avian
mortality around solar power plants.
But the scientists and
members of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement
(OLE) saw first-hand those trade-offs when they visited Ivanpah, where
mirrors called heliostats heat water to generate steam to drive an
electricity-generating turbine. The intense light that surrounds the top
of Ivanpah’s power towers attracts insects, including Monarch
butterflies. Federal officials “observed large numbers of insect
carcasses throughout the Ivanpah site,” according to the report. “Birds
were also observed feeding on the insects. At times birds flew into the
solar flux and ignited.”
Ivanpah employees called such immolations “streamers.”
every two minutes, according to the report. The birds killed at Ivanpah
include a peregrine falcon, a red-shouldered hawk and an ash-throated
flycatcher.
The
report recommends among other things that NRG shut down the power plant
during peak migration times for some bird species and install video
cameras to monitor birds as they fly into the solar flux.
NRG spokesman Jeff Holland took issue with some of the recommendations.
“While
the report provides some initial data on bird mortality at the Ivanpah
project, it also presents premature conclusions regarding the severity
of impacts and proposed recommendations which are not supported by
scientific literature, nor standard protocols and processes that are
necessary prior to drawing scientific conclusions,” he told The Atlantic
in an email. “Given that Ivanpah has only been operational for a short
period of time, it is premature to determine the significance and extent
of impacts to insects, birds, or bats.”
“Climate change is by far
the biggest concern for all forms of wildlife on the planet and we have
spent millions of dollars on projects like Ivanpah in our quest to find
ways to provide clean, sustainable and renewable energy,” Holland
added.
While
about 60 percent of the 233 bird deaths occurred at Ivanpah, solar
technologies considered more environmentally benign also proved fatal to
birds.
The Desert Sunlight project developed by First Solar, for
instance, deploys hundreds of thousands of solar panels like those found
on residential rooftops. But from a bird’s eye view, a sea of those
shiny bluish panels can literally look like a sea, a desert oasis for
them to alight. Most of the 61 avian deaths at the project—including a
brown pelican and western grebes—were attributed to birds flying into
the solar panels.
The report recommended putting markings on the panels to signal to birds that they are not flying over water.
How to Stop Solar-Power Plants From Incinerating Birds
A
federal report calls California's Ivanpah solar power plant a
"mega-trap" for wildlife. Even solar panels can prove a fatal avian
attraction.
federal report calls California's Ivanpah solar power plant a
"mega-trap" for wildlife. Even solar panels can prove a fatal avian
attraction.
Star, incinerating anything that flies through a “solar flux” field
that generates temperatures of 800 degree Fahrenheit when 300,000
mirrors focus the sun on a water-filled boilers that sit on top three
459-foot towers.
“It
appears Ivanpah may act as a ‘mega-trap,’ attracting insects which in
turn attract insect-eating birds, which are incapacitated by solar-flux
injury, thus attracting predators and creating an entire food chain
vulnerable to injury and death,” concluded scientists with the National
Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in a report that investigated 233 bird deaths representing 71 species at three Southern California solar power plants.
It’s
important to put that death toll in context. Every year as many as 988
million birds—that’s not a typo—or nearly 10 percent of the United
States’s avian population, die from colliding with windows, according to
a study published in March. In other words, you and I have bird blood on our hands just from sitting inside our offices and homes.
and what kind of trade-offs society is willing to make to fight climate
change. The construction of Ivanpah, which was built by BrightSource
Energy and now is operated by NRG Energy, faced delays when it turned
out the site 45 miles south of Las Vegas is a hot spot for the imperiled
desert tortoise.
The
Fish and Wildlife biologists cautioned that their results are
preliminary and that much more research needs to be done on avian
mortality around solar power plants.
But the scientists and
members of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement
(OLE) saw first-hand those trade-offs when they visited Ivanpah, where
mirrors called heliostats heat water to generate steam to drive an
electricity-generating turbine. The intense light that surrounds the top
of Ivanpah’s power towers attracts insects, including Monarch
butterflies. Federal officials “observed large numbers of insect
carcasses throughout the Ivanpah site,” according to the report. “Birds
were also observed feeding on the insects. At times birds flew into the
solar flux and ignited.”
Ivanpah employees called such immolations “streamers.”
When OLE staff visited Ivanpah, we observed many streamer events. ItThe feds saw what appeared to be a bird go up in flames
is claimed that these events represent the combustion of loose debris or
insects. Although some of the events are likely that, there were
instances where the amount of smoke produced by the ignition could only
be explained by a large flammable biomass such as a bird. Indeed OLE
observed birds entering the solar flux and igniting, consequently
becoming a streamer.
every two minutes, according to the report. The birds killed at Ivanpah
include a peregrine falcon, a red-shouldered hawk and an ash-throated
flycatcher.
The
report recommends among other things that NRG shut down the power plant
during peak migration times for some bird species and install video
cameras to monitor birds as they fly into the solar flux.
NRG spokesman Jeff Holland took issue with some of the recommendations.
“While
the report provides some initial data on bird mortality at the Ivanpah
project, it also presents premature conclusions regarding the severity
of impacts and proposed recommendations which are not supported by
scientific literature, nor standard protocols and processes that are
necessary prior to drawing scientific conclusions,” he told The Atlantic
in an email. “Given that Ivanpah has only been operational for a short
period of time, it is premature to determine the significance and extent
of impacts to insects, birds, or bats.”
“Climate change is by far
the biggest concern for all forms of wildlife on the planet and we have
spent millions of dollars on projects like Ivanpah in our quest to find
ways to provide clean, sustainable and renewable energy,” Holland
added.
about 60 percent of the 233 bird deaths occurred at Ivanpah, solar
technologies considered more environmentally benign also proved fatal to
birds.
The Desert Sunlight project developed by First Solar, for
instance, deploys hundreds of thousands of solar panels like those found
on residential rooftops. But from a bird’s eye view, a sea of those
shiny bluish panels can literally look like a sea, a desert oasis for
them to alight. Most of the 61 avian deaths at the project—including a
brown pelican and western grebes—were attributed to birds flying into
the solar panels.
The report recommended putting markings on the panels to signal to birds that they are not flying over water.
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