Conference Agenda

Wind energy contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but the development of wind-power plants has negative effects on biodiversity. Here, I present two case studies assessing the direct (wind-power plant) and indirect (powerlines) impacts of wind energy development on birds and the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Long-term monitoring of the population of white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) on Smøla island (Norway) after the construction of a large wind-power plant revealed no effect on the number of active territories and nests, and the reproductive output over 1998–2023 despite changing the spatial distribution of territories after construction. Black blades were used as mitigation measure, which reduced mortality by 70%. In the last carcass search period (2020-2023), 23 casualties were found, none by black rotor blades. Despite this mitigation measures, DNA monitoring of all territories revealed a decline in adult survival of resident individuals with proximity to the wind-power plant. Regarding mitigation of the impact of powerlines on birds, we assessed the effectiveness of flight diverters on individual’s flight behaviour using a dedicated 3D avian radar. We found strong responses to the diverters both in the use of the airspace and flight behaviour when comparing marked and unmarked section of powerlines.

The demand for renewable energy has driven the expansion of wind farms worldwide. To mitigate their impact on flying species, a spatially explicit assessment of collision risk in vulnerable species is needed to guide management actions and prioritise areas for development. We used GPS data from 127 adult and 50 juvenile griffon vultures, a species prone to turbine collisions in peninsular Spain (2014-2022), to evaluate factors influencing vulnerability and exposure and predict collision risk. We validate the observed collision risk with recorded long-term mortality data (1999–2022) at regional and wind farm scales and evaluate the estimated impact of current and future turbines. Our results showed that food availability increases vulnerability and exposure, whilst distance to nesting areas and the conspecific presence decreased vulnerability and exposure in vultures. Our maps revealed that between 10-19% of the Spanish peninsular area had a high collision risk. Importantly, the number of turbine casualties was positively related to collision risk at the regional and wind farm scale and ∼18 of the breeding population lies within high collision risk areas. Moreover, areas with the highest collision risk have the highest number of turbines and largely overlap with areas suitable for developing new wind farms.

In line with Europe’s decarbonization goals, the number and the capacity of wind-power farms in Europe is projected to increase in coming decades. However, wind farms pose risks to biodiversity: flying animals can fatally collide with wind-farm infrastructure and bats can experience deadly barotrauma when flying close to turbines. To inform the deployment of wind farms at the European scale and minimize the risk to wildlife, we aim to assess collision mortality across European birds and bats. We use a compilation of recorded collisions for birds and bats from published papers which we combine with data on species traits, wind farm and landscape characteristics, and we investigate associations between collision mortality and these variables. We then use our models’ outcomes to create species-specific and functional group specific collision-mortality maps for European birds and bats, with the aim of informing spatial deployment of wind-power projects and possible mitigation measures.

Wind energy development is increasing steadily in the whole Mediterranean and zonation is needed to ensure its compatibility with biodiversity protection. We highlighted criticalities and challenges connected with mapping wind energy development in Sardinia, an island hosting many protected habitats and species, including birds and bats which are negatively affected by wind turbines.

Existing official data from 2020 reported 963 turbines. However, when validated with 2023 aerial pictures, a total of 1,079 turbines emerged (+12.0%). Absent a webgis we had to map 741 wind turbines manually, from individual projects available from the website of the Ministry of the Environment. Some projects were impossible to map, as they did not contain any coordinate or their maps had an unsuitable resolution.

Overall data about existing wind farms became obsolete in a timespan of 3 years and information about ongoing projects is scarcely accessible. Therefore zonation policies based on these data will be flawed. There is urgent need for updated, validated and FAIR data about wind energy development in Europe. Freely available satellite imagery is fundamental to update wind turbine maps and algorithms for object identfication are a promising tool for this taks.

We present a comprehensive analysis of sixty-nine studies examining how offshore wind energy affects marine migrating species. Our results show that, in contrast to hopeful predictions, there are numerous adverse effects during the building of fixed offshore wind infrastructure and its operation. The most common problems were behavioural ones, such as avoidance and changed swimming patterns, as well as acoustical ones that affected voice patterns.

The evidence base is significantly biased towards European waters and species that are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: particularly non-mammalian taxa like fish and turtles. Our analysis highlights the urgent need for further information, particularly with relation to the pre-construction and decommissioning stages and new technologies such as floating offshore wind farms.

To address these knowledge gaps, we encourage the use of existing information and resources to better understand the effects on migratory species outside of the frequently researched fish, birds, and turtles. We call on efforts to improve data accessibility and sharing, highlighting the need to strengthen data infrastructure and encourage stakeholder collaboration to successfully navigate the complex issues presented by wind energy developments in the marine environment.