Speaking on the occasion of the first Iberian Congress on Wind Energy and Wildlife Conservation, held in Jerez on Thursday, the expert noted that the deaths of birds colliding with wind turbines have a distribution "heterogeneous" and added that in the recent years has reduced mortality by 68%, refuting the organization Seo / Birdlife, which exhibited at the scientific conference that wind turbines could be causing a mortality between 6 and 18 million individuals between the species of birds and bats, a ten thousand times more than the actual figure.
Ferrer exemplified how in Tarifa, point of passage of thousands of birds migrating from Europe to Africa, the mortality rate stands copies at an annual rate of 0.3 birds per wind turbine. In the same vein, the Minister of Environment of the Junta, Juan Jose Diaz Trillo, said that the security measures coordinated between wind farm producers and his department had been reduced the mortality by almost 50 % in the last five years, and 40% of other species.
The scientist Miguel Ferrer said that the figures provided in the study of SEO/Birdlife only take into account the "points of accumulation of accidents." According to the researcher, the data offered by SEO / Birdlife can not be extrapolated to the whole wind farm plants "because it is as if the black spots on the roads are extrapolated to the whole road network and is a very high figure."
"Technology can make a great favor to nature", expressed Miguel Ferrer, recalling the same as "renewables are born as necessary for the environment." In addition, the researcher involved these days in the I Iberian Congress on wind energy and wildlife conservation, held in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), pointed out that this renewable energy rises in the interest of reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, that "it was an emergency and still is."
For Ferrer, technology can be "very helpful" in this field as it has developed reflects the environmental assessment for wind turbine instead of entire wind farms, new tools based on wind tunnel simulation applications and information to be more precise routes of movement of birds and bats in future installations.
In this regard, stresses that the technology related to detecting and stopping order of wind turbines to avoid collisions creates opportunities for innovation in this industry looks, especially because it develops from Andalusia and Spain and is a exportable technology that increases the value of domestic firms competitive in wind power industry.
It has also highlighted progress has been made "pretty" with technological contributions that demonstrate that solutions are "viable" from the point of view of conservation and economic profitability and production. "If the solution is to dismantle the wind farms is not a sensible solution," he warned.
In some wind farms, according to the president of the Foundation Migres, has reduced bird deaths by more than 60 percent, with a reduction in output of 0.07 percent per year, that is, "within the margin of what is acceptable by the industry, "he noted. "There are roads in the future, even to solve problems of wind farms installed," he highlighted.
On the other hand, reported that on Friday the day Congress will bring advances in technology to convert future impact mitigation systems in automated systems, using radar or television cameras or intelligent image analysis, "technological alternatives can make more consistent wind power and wildlife conservation, and generates innovation linked to a business in Spain, as things are not bad news, "he noted.
The Migres Foundation president, Miguel Ferrer, explained that "basically," the problem or error of wind farms is in the range of work. In this regard, he acknowledged that "until the wind farms do not have a running time does not specify the consequences and effects."
"It took time to understand what we did wrong," he added. In line with this, has clarified that the processing and approval of wind farms was carried out after assessing the risk potential of specific wind farm, that is, analyzing the risks of a wide area where they would go about 70 wind turbines. "Now we discover that, as with roads, there are points of accumulation of accidents, ie areas where there are a greater number of impacts," he commented.
Ferrer has said that passing a solution to define the risks and mill scale wind farm, which is one suggestion for the future. In this sense, has opted for "an assessment of impact wind turbine scale and full wind farm, which will allow predictions of previous studies of impacts accurate." "You can work with average values, since there are not dangerous wind farms," he said.
On the other hand, praised the commitment of companies in the wind power sector, whose involvement has made possible the scientific development that has occurred in Andalusia, "a world leader in the field of knowledge." The commitment of the Regional Administration, add the companies that fund their efforts to "understand the problems, predict and solve them."
Faced with critical voices against the wind energy, Ferrer has urged them to go back and remember that the main problem as the possibilities of human life and biodiversity is global warming caused by human activity, the production of energy and mobility, so that "we have to respond efficiently to climate change and slow and slow its progress, because if not achieved, the youngest of the problems would be that wind turbines can kill birds," he underlined .
CSIC researcher was convinced that "it is clear that there are chances that birds and wind turbines can share with no problem, and in this regard, he stated that "we need wind energy and their development does not pose a negative impact" lamenting in this regard have been given data "scientifically unsound" about the killing of birds by impacts of wind turbines by some non- governmental organizations.
By José Santamarta, https://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?tag=1133 and http://www.evwind.com/noticias.php?tag=1102
