Can radar be used to deter bats from approaching wind turbines?
Large numbers of bats are killed by colliding with turbine blades or by experiencing sudden depressurisation immediately adjacent to the blade. In an attempt to reduce this mortality rate, University of Aberdeen scientists Barry Nicholls and Paul Racey, funded by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species have shown that there is a significant reduction in bat activity when a portable radar beam is directed at their foraging sites. The UK government is committed to ensure that 10% of the country’s electricity will be generated from renewable sources by 2010 with an aspiration to double this figure by 2020. There are now 206 operational wind farms across the UK, with 2381 turbines in use. Plans for another 444 sites means that the effects on our bat population not to mention birds could be significant. Although little work has been carried out in the UK, a six week study on two American farms in 2004 recorded a total of over 4,500 bat fatalities from collisions with the turbines. Attempt
