As countries continue to install wind turbines as a means of transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy solutions, they are faced with the problem of increasing bird mortality. However, Australian companies are using artificial intelligence to alleviate this problem.
As explained in Interesting Engineering, Woolnorth Renewables turned to AI-based technology to save the long-tailed sea eagle in Australia's Tasmanian state, where the company's wind farms are located. The MIT Climate Portal reported that up to 679,000 birds are killed annually in the United States alone by turbine strikes.
A US wind farm was fined $8 million last year for the death of an eagle, and a 900-megawatt wind farm in Tasmania could be shut down for five months before it starts operating each year, according to Interest String Engineering. faced with sexuality. Woolnorth Renewables' system could be a viable solution.
The system, called IdentiFlight, “uses optical sensors and leverages the power of AI to identify eagles and other protected birds flying up to 0.6 miles (1 km) away from turbines.” Interesting Engineering reports. After a few seconds, the system “calculates the bird's trajectory relative to the rotational sweep area (RSA) of the turbines and determines whether one or more turbines need to be shut down.”
Woolnorth Renewables reportedly plans to install 30 IdentiFlight units at a 168 megawatt wind farm. The company tested the technology on another 148MW wind farm for 18 months from August 2020 to February 2022 and found a detection accuracy of 99% and a potential 85% reduction in fatalities. reported.
“Wind farms are essential to the transition to clean energy and new technologies like Identiflight are essential to managing and mitigating potential risks,” said Woolnorth general manager Giles Linkes. He spoke to Renew Economy.
Wind turbines are an obvious threat to birds, but there are other dangers that overshadow them. Cats kill billions of birds each year in the United States, and building and vehicle collisions, poisoning, power line strikes, and dirty energy sources such as coal-fired power plants also contribute to bird deaths.
The system by Woolnorth Renewables is another initiative to ease the transition to clean energy sources. Installing solar panels and heat pumps are options that can help you save money while reducing your environmental impact.
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