News

NGO partnership to address environmental impact of wind energy

10 February 2010

Wind energy is not without negative environmental impacts – particularly on our bird populations.

The challenge is providing wide-scale, clean, renewable energy into the future.  The answer, say the industry’s pioneers, is wind energy.

This is particularly true in South Africa, which has an abundance of wind resources, and a power provider looking to diversify energy supplies as much as possible.  Add to that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) announcement of feed-in tariffs in 2009, and it is understandable why applications for wind energy developments, made increasingly by independent power producers, have been gaining momentum.

Wind energy is widely lauded as being a far more environmentally friendly and sustainable energy option than traditional coal-fired power stations.  Consider that there are no harmful emissions, an independence from mining operations and the fact that wind is a freely available, renewable, and cost-free resource.  Furthermore, using wind energy, the power supply can be placed closer to where it is needed, eliminating the need for extensive power lines cutting across the landscape, which have their own environmental impacts.

However, wind energy is not without negative environmental impacts – particularly on our bird populations.

In order to address this issue, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) have combined efforts to lobby for the appropriate consideration of the potential negative effects of wind energy production.

“There are cumulative impacts that may be the greatest threat posed by wind energy developments to avifauna,” says Jon Smallie, manager of the EWT’s Wildlife and Energy Programme (EWT-WEP). “The EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] process does not adequately take these cumulative impacts into account.”

“We are concerned that more and more wind farms are under application, often in close proximity to one another, particularly in the Eastern and Western Cape.  While a particular site may be acceptable for development from an avifaunal point of view if viewed in isolation, when neighbouring areas are also subsequently developed, the combined impact of these multiple developments on certain bird species could be significant,” says Mark Anderson, Executive Director of BirdLife South Africa.

The impact of wind energy production on birds has already been documented in Spain, Denmark and the USA, where this form of energy production is more established than it is in South Africa.  At some sites, significant impact on birds was recorded, but not at other sites, suggesting that it is possible for wind energy infrastructure and birds to co-exist if sites are chosen correctly.

Only seven commercial size wind turbines are currently in operation in South Africa, three at the Eskom demonstration facility at Klipheuwel, and four at a private wind farm in Darling, so local research into the impacts of wind turbines on birds is very limited.  This results in uncertainty when assessing the likely impacts of proposed wind farms, as there is insufficient local data on which to base the assessments.

The recently formed EWT-BLSA partnership intends to address this situation with a combination of activities, including proactive engagement with the wind energy industry, the commissioning of a national strategic assessment of wind energy and birds, and the ongoing provision of input into EIAs for new wind farms through comment as Interested and Affected Parties.

A national strategic assessment will assess the risks to both birds and developers by identifying, at an early stage, geographic areas in South Africa where bird populations could be significantly impacted by wind turbine development, and areas where impacts would be of low significance.  In so doing, potential risks related to birds could be identified and avoided early on, while saving developers unnecessary costs.  The assessment will also identify and document different techniques of mitigating the impacts on birds where necessary, and will involve the wind energy industry in assessing the feasibility of these techniques.  A further anticipated outcome is the development of much-needed best practice guidelines for avifaunal assessments within EIAs.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife and Energy Programme has worked on reducing the impacts of energy infrastructure on wildlife since 1996, offering practical advice and developing mitigation measures to prevent the negative impact of power line infrastructure on wildlife, through effective partnerships with industry players like South African electricity utility Eskom.  Their work has benefited the industry by reducing the impacts of birds on the lines and providing cost effective solutions to developers.  The Programme is a world leader in the mitigation of bird/power line collisions and electrocutions.

BirdLife South Africa is one of the leading South African environmental NGOs, responsible for the conservation of birds and their habitats.  BLSA is part of BirdLife International and as such, collaborates with other BirdLife partners around the world, including countries with well-established wind energy industries.  BLSA’s international partners will be approached for input when EWT-BLSA develops proactive measures to reduce the risk of wind farms on South Africa’s birds.

EWT-BLSA believes that their partnership, in collaboration with ornithological institutions, conservationists and wind developers, is uniquely positioned to ensure that the potential for clean wind energy is realised without undue impact on our birds.

They invite any interested parties to contact them to contribute towards their work: