We also monitor bird populations during construction and while the turbines are in operation. This enables us to assess the impacts in practice and generate new information about how wind power and nature can coexist.
Bird surveys form part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for wind power projects. They help identify important bird species in the area and assess potential impacts on migration routes, breeding areas and protected species, for example. Based on the assessments, long-term monitoring programmes are established where necessary, allowing the impacts to be studied after the project has been implemented.
Examining the impacts of wind turbines on nature critically
Bird monitoring has been carried out at Ilmatar’s Möksy and Louhukangas wind farms in Alajärvi and at the Pahkakoski wind farm in Ii. Impacts on birds are monitored both during construction and once the wind farms are operational. Monitoring during the construction phase examines how the construction of wind turbines and other infrastructure affects bird populations in the area. Operational monitoring, in turn, provides information on how bird populations have adapted to the wind farm over the longer term. The next monitoring phase will take place approximately five years after the wind farm becomes operational.
Long-term monitoring helps us understand how the impacts identified in the assessments materialise in practice. For example, an endangered bird species may be identified in the area during the EIA phase, but only monitoring can determine whether the wind farm actually causes significant harm to the species’ behaviour or habitat.
The impacts of wind power on birds attract considerable interest and raise questions. Monitoring data helps distinguish assumptions and concerns from actual impacts, while continuously expanding the knowledge base on the environmental impacts of renewable energy production.
Long-term monitoring also generates information that is still relatively limited across the industry. Although environmental surveys have been conducted for many years, information on the impacts of operational wind farms can only be accumulated over the course of their operation. Ilmatar’s projects provide an opportunity to examine these impacts over several years and apply the findings to the planning of future projects.
The monitoring results can be used in the environmental impact assessments of new projects, in the planning of mitigation measures and, more broadly, in ensuring that biodiversity is taken into account when developing energy infrastructure.
