Researchers from Oregon State University are investigating the impact of painting wind turbine blades black to reduce bird strikes, in an effort to mitigate the negative effects of wind energy on wildlife wild. Initial studies suggest that changing the color of the blades could help prevent birds, especially eagles and other large birds, from crashing into wind turbines.
This project arose from a study carried out in Norway in 2020, where the painting of one of the wind turbine blades black resulted in a nearly 72 percent reduction in bird strikes. While the Norwegian study involved just four turbines, the Oregon researchers are expanding the experiment to include 28 turbines at the Glenrock Wind Farm in Wyoming, operated by PacifiCorp.
Christian Hagen, a senior research scientist in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University, stresses the importance of replicating the study with a larger sample before adopting the practice as policy. “While the results in Norway have been promising, it is crucial to test this approach on a larger scale and with different bird species to ensure that it is truly effective and that there are no unintended negative consequences.“, said Hagen.
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PhD student Natia Javakhishvili, who is part of the project, is developing a model that uses data on bird movements at the study site. The aim is to assess whether birds demonstrate greater avoidance when approaching turbines with painted blades.
Javakhishvili is focusing primarily on golden eagles, a species particularly vulnerable to wind turbines. She plans to use a vast dataset containing millions of movement records of these birds to refine the model and more accurately predict their avoidance behavior.
In addition to golden eagles, other aspects of the research involve the impact of wind energy on species such as the ferruginous hawk, native to western North America. To do this, field teams use sniffer dogs to locate bird and bat carcasses, which contributes to the study's database.
Wind Turbines: How Black Blades Help Prevent Collisions
The main hypothesis behind painting blades black is that it disrupts the visual uniformity of the airspace, making wind turbines more visible to birds. This could encourage avoidance behavior, especially among birds of prey such as eagles and hawks, which have excellent daytime vision.
However, the effectiveness of this strategy for bats, which rely more on auditory signals and have a different visual perception, is still uncertain. One of the objectives of the research is precisely to understand whether painting the blades has any impact on this species.
While PacifiCorp’s project is one of the largest of its kind in the United States, similar initiatives are underway in other countries. In the Netherlands, Vattenfall is conducting a similar experiment with seven turbines.
In Spain, Iberdrola has also painted turbine blades black as part of a study that involves other visual techniques, such as applying vinyl shapes to turbine towers.
In South Africa, a trial is underway to paint blades with red stripes after the South African Civil Aviation Authority rejected black as the ideal color. The decision was based on the fact that, in good light conditions, red is more visible to birds of prey.
Differences between onshore and offshore wind farms
It is worth noting that most of these projects involve onshore wind farms and land birds. However, the impacts of offshore wind energy on seabirds still represent a major challenge.
Offshore wind energy involves additional factors, such as habitat changes and vessel movements around wind farms, which can impact seabird life in more complex ways. Therefore, detailed monitoring before, during and after construction of offshore wind farms is needed to understand the full effects on these species.
In summary, the research conducted in the Oregon aims to explore ways to harmonize the growth of wind energy with the protection of wildlife, especially birds threatened by wind turbines.
If the findings are positive, simply painting wind turbine blades black could become an effective and cost-effective solution. low cost to reduce bird and bat deaths, contributing to environmental sustainability without harming clean energy generation.