AWWI Webinar: Minimizing Collision Impacts for Bats at Operational Wind Facilities, Part 1: Curtailment

This is the first in a series of two webinars hosted by AWWI and sponsored by NREL and the Department of Energy on technologies and strategies to minimize bat collision fatalities at operating wind energy facilities. The webinar featured presentations, a panel discussion, and Q&A by experts on what we’re learning about different curtailment approaches, current smart curtailment research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and novel approaches to developing ways to make curtailment “smarter.”

Watch the webinar recording and presentation slides here.

Presentations:

• What We Know About the Efficacy of Curtailment After a Decade of Research and Why it Matters
  • Presenters: Winifred Frick and Michael Whitby, Bat Conservation International
• Reviewing the Effectiveness and Measurement of Curtailment Strategies for Reducing Bat Fatalities at Terrestrial Wind Farms
  • Presenter: Evan Adams, Biodiversity Research Institute
• Status of DOE-Funded Smart/Informed Curtailment Projects
  • Presenter: Cris Hein, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (view past NWCC webinar on projects)
• Are Bat Activity and Mortality Best Predicted by Weather Measured On-Site or at Off-Site Regional Airports?
  • Presenter: Rhett Good, Western Ecosystems Technology Inc.
• Approaches to Developing Smart Curtailment Algorithms for Bats and Birds: Big Data and Machine Learning Perspectives from BatCast and BirdCast
  • Presenter: Andrew Farnsworth, Cornell Lab of Ornithology