Bats are a protected species in the European Union and recently concerns have arisen about the potential for bat populations to be affected or harmed by wind turbines. Research work has been carried out in the US identifying migrating bat collision with wind turbines however we have different (non migrating) bat species in Britain so the conclusions of US studies cannot be applied.
Natural England – the government body responsible for protecting nature conservation in England recently initiated a research project to answer the question as to whether wind turbines pose a risk to British bat populations. Despite publishing ‘interim guidance‘ for wind energy projects using some knowledge of bat fatalities at wind farms overseas, very little is known about impacts on bat activity in the UK.
The work to be carried out by a steering group comprising Natural England, DEFRA, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage and British Wind Energy Association will involve gathering and reviewing existing information, identifying survey wind energy sites sites and discussing experiences overseas with European and US expert bodies.
Government and wind industry funded bat activity monitoring surveys are then to be carried out at operational wind farms to investigate the level of risk to bat populations.
The surveys are hoped to improve our understanding of bat behaviour around wind turbines, enabling more informed decisions about the siting and design of future wind energy projects.
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