Many state and federal wildlife agencies recommend collecting bat activity in the rotor-swept area of turbines. The typical approach is to mount an acoustic detector on a turbine nacelle. However, this requires a significant amount of effort and cost to the operator in the form of wind technician labor and time, and turbine downtime during installation. Mounting acoustic detectors may also require modifications to turbine nacelles, which can potentially violate turbine warranties.
WEST and Wildlife Imaging Systems are collaborating to provide an alternative to nacelle mounted acoustics for developing Optimized Smart Curtailment (OSC). Thermal video can be used to collect bat activity within the rotor-swept area using cameras located on the ground and pointed upward, eliminating the hassle and cost of installing equipment on turbines. Our recent work shows activity estimates from cameras are comparable to those collected with nacelle-mounted acoustics, and cameras sample a larger portion of the rotor-swept area, providing a more complete picture of bat activity.
Reach out to us for questions regarding the use of thermal video to develop OSC!
