Studying Wind Energy/bird Interactions: a Guidance Document Metrics and Methods for Determining or Monitoring Potential Impacts on Birds at Existing and Proposed Wind Energy Sites

With the full support of the NWCC Avian Subcommittee, Robert Thresher and Holly Davis of NREL developed the strategy for making this document a reality. They also selected a writing team and a review team. Abby Arnold and Janet Stone of RESOLVE, Inc. of Washington DC facilitated this work and obtained commitments from the writing and review team members. Handbook compilation, editing and review facilitation provided Preface This guidance document is a product of the Avian Subcommittee of the National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC). The NWCC was formed in 1994 as a collaborative endeavor composed of representatives from diverse sectors including electric utilities and their support organizations, state utility commissions, state legislatures, consumer advocates, wind equipment suppliers and developers, green power marketers, environmental organizations, and state and federal agencies. The NWCC identifies issues that affect the use of wind power, establishes dialogue among key stakeholders, and catalyzes appropriate activities to support the development of an environmentally, economically and politically sustainable commercial market for wind energy. Figure 3-1. Idealized sketch of an impact indicator in a Before-After Design with five time periods (T) of interest where an abrupt change coincides with an impact and is followed by a return to baseline conditions.. Figure 3-3. Sketch of point estimates of an impact indicator in an idealized BACI design where interaction with time indicates recovery from impact by the third time period following the incident.. .. . .29 Figure 3-4. Idealized sketch of results from a Reference-Impact Design where a large initial difference in the impact is followed by a shift to parallel response curves.. INTRODUCTION In the 1980s little was known about the potential environmental effects associated with large scale wind energy development. Although wind turbines have been used in farming and remote location applications throughout this country for centuries, impacts on birds resulting from these dispersed turbines had not been reported. Thus early wind energy developments were planned, permitted, constructed, and operated with little consideration for the potential effects on birds. In the ensuing years wind plant impacts on birds became a source of concern among a number of stakeholder groups. Based on the studies that have been done to date, significant levels of bird fatalities have been identified at only one major commercial wind energy development in the United States. Research on wind energy/bird interactions has spanned such a wide variety of protocols and vastly different levels of study effort …