An Orange-Bellied Parrot perched on the sting of a feeding bowl. The species is listed as being critically endangered.
Margot Kiesskalt | Istock | Getty Images
Plans for a significant new wind farm in Australia got the thumbs up this month — on the availability its generators go offline for 5 months a yr to guard a parrot species.
In an environmental evaluation report of the Robbins Island Renewable Energy Park, Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority stated its board had “determined to approve the proposal” for the venture, which might have as many as 122 wind generators and is overseen by ACEN Australia.
One of the approval situations pertains to the Orange-bellied parrot, which the Australian authorities says is critically endangered.
“Unless otherwise approved in writing by the EPA Board, all WTG [wind turbine generators] must be shut down during the northern OBP migration period (1 March to 31 May inclusive) and the southern OBP migration period (15 September to 15 November inclusive),” the EPA doc says.
In a press release final week, EPA board chair Andrew Paul stated the group had concluded that “significant mitigation measures” have been wanted in relation to “potential impacts on the orange-bellied parrot population.”
This was on account of “the limited knowledge about the importance of Robbins Island in the annual northern and southern migrations” in addition to a must account for a National Recovery Plan for the species.
“This has led to the inclusion of [project approval] condition FF6 which imposes shutdown periods during the migrations totaling five months when the turbines cannot operate,” Paul added.
Robbins Island is situated in waters off the northwest coast of Tasmania, a big island and Australian state. If all goes to plan, the overall capability of the proposed wind farm might be as a lot as 900 megawatts.
CNBC contacted ACEN Australia by way of the Robbins Island venture’s web site, however didn’t obtain a response previous to publication. The Ayala Corporation, dad or mum firm of ACEN Australia majority-owner ACEN Corporation, didn’t reply to a CNBC request for remark.
In a Facebook put up, venture builders stated they welcomed approval from the EPA, including that additional approvals have been wanted from the Circular Head Council and the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. These have been anticipated in early 2023, they stated.
In feedback reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ACEN Australia Chief Operating Officer David Pollington described the switch-off situation as “completely unexpected.”
The agency would “need to consider our options going forward,” the ABC report quoted Pollington as saying.
Amid world plans to ramp up wind energy capability within the years forward, the interplay of wind generators with the pure world — together with marine and chicken life — is more likely to change into a key space of debate.
The U.Ok.-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds warns that wind farms “can harm birds through disturbance, displacement, acting as barriers, habitat loss and collision,” including that “impacts can arise from a single development and cumulatively multiple projects.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has stated that some wind initiatives and generators can lead to bat and chicken casualties.
“These deaths may contribute to declines in the population of species also affected by other human-related impacts,” it notes. “The wind energy industry and the U.S. government are researching ways to reduce the effect of wind turbines on birds and bats.”
Brussels-based trade physique WindEurope says the results of initiatives will be prevented “by adequately planning, siting, and designing wind farms.”
“The impact of wind farms on birds and bats is extremely low compared to the impact of climate change and other human activity,” it provides.