Wind Energy Monitoring and Mitigation Technologies Tool

Elmer (2018): With a Hydro Sound Damper (HSD) in place, sound was measured at a distance of 6m from the pile, 4m above ground, to record sound levels during pile driving in the German Baltic Sea. Results (a 23dB reduction in noise level) indicated 99.5% of the whole sound energy was damped out by the HSD net.

Elmer et al. (2014) evaluated the noise reduction capacity of the Hydro Sound Dampener during the installation of offshore wind turbines at several locations including the London Array wind farm (Great Britain) and the Amrumbank-West wind farm (Germany) in the North Sea.

Delprat et al. (2011) presented the concept of the ID stat system at the Conference on Wind energy and Wildlife impacts in Norway in May 2011. A small scale study of the technology was scheduled for March 2012 at an Land-based wind turbine.

Delprat & Alcuri (2011) presented at the Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts on the 2nd-5th of May 2011, in Trondheim, Norway.

Duerr et al. (2023) analyzed the effectiveness of IdentiFlight system's ability to identify different bird species at the Manzana Wind project, in Kern County, California (US) from June 2018 - 2019.

Huso & Dalthorp (2023) assessed Identiflight's ability to reduce eagle mortality at Campbell Hill wind farm in Wyoming (US) from August 2018 - 2022.

Rogers (2022) evaluated the efficacy of the Identiflight Avian Detection System at the Castle Hill Wind Farm in Tasmania from August 2020 to February 2022.

McClure et al. (2022) evaluated IdentiFlight's ability to mitigate collision mortality of bald and golden eagles at a wind facility in Wyoming (US).

Rolek et al. (2022) evaluated Identiflight at Top of the World Wind Power Facility in Wyoming (US) from May 2018 to March 2019 and at The Manzana Wind Power Project, in Kern County, California (US) from June 2018 to March 2020.

Aschwanden et al. (2020) monitored bird movements to assess the effectiveness of the IdentiFlight system at the Wind Energy Research Cluster South in Stötten, Germany between April and May 2020.

McClure et al. (2018) used human observation to test and compare the ability of IdentiFlight to detect, classify, and track birds at the Top of the World wind farm in Wyoming (US) from August to September 2016.

Deng et al. (2021) designed a animal tracking transmitter with the goal of reducing weight and increasing transmission range. Drones were used to assess the effective range of the transmitter near Richland, Washington (US) in December 2021.

Deng et al (2019) implemented three designs of animal tracking transmitters aimed at tracking bats for applications in wind energy. Lab scale testing and algorithm validation were undertaken in 2018.

Koschinski & Lüdemann (2020) discuss the first commercial application of the Integrated Monopile Installer in 2012 at the German OWF Riffgat in the North Sea. Since then the Integrated Monopile Installer has been used on over 450 piles. Noise reduction was decreased to a range of 13 to 16 dBSEL.

Rose et al. (2019) analyzed data collected during the construction of Gescha 1 & 2 from 2010 to 2016 to investigate the effects of different types of noise mitigation on harbour porpoises.

Booth et al. (2013) illustrate how the iPCoD protocol can be used to consider the potential effects of constructing two hypothetical wind farms off the Aberdeenshire coast on the five priority species over two years in their relevant management units. Additionally, they investigate the cumulative effects of the simultaneous operation of a hypothetical tidal energy installation.

Peterson et al. (2021) investigated whether acoustic bat data collected at wind farms can provide accurate measures of bat fatality risk. They used Kaleidoscope Pro to analyze bat acoustic data collected at the New Creek wind farm in West Virginia in September 2011 and May 2017. They found that measuring exposure of acoustic bat activity provided a quantitative basis for designing, evaluating, and adaptively managing curtailment strategies.

McKay et al. (2024) described bat community dynamics at a Norwegian wind farm located in boreal forest. They used Kaleidoscope Pro to process bat acoustic data collected between July - September in 2020. They found evidence to suggest possible direct and indirect effects to bat communities.

Richardson et al. (2021) assessed bat activity at paired turbine and control locations at 23 British wind farms. They used Kaleidoscope Pro to process bat calls and classify calls to species level. P. pipistrellus activity was 37% higher at turbines than at control locations, which may explain why Environmental Impact Assessments conducted before the installation of turbines are poor predictors of actual fatality rates.

Hylkema et al. (2023) compared two types of artificial reefs in the Caribbean (2018) by examining fish assemblage, territorial behavior and grazing intensity between reef balls and layered cakes.

Hylkema et al. (2020) compared three types of artificial reefs in the Caribbean (2018) by examining the early fish colonization rates between reef balls, layered cakes, and piles of local basaltic rocks.

Guazzo et al. (2019) explored the use of Toyon Research Corporation's detection system to observe North Pacific gray whales. They used a combination of visual sightings, acoustic calls, and infrared camera data on blow detections to calculate the cue rates of migrating eastern North Pacific gray whales in January 2015

May et al. (2017) evaluated the detection ranges of the MERLIN Avian Radar by using an unmanned aerial vehicle to simulate various flight patterns and bird sizes. The study took place off the coast of Central Norway in August 2009.

Skov et al. (2016) utilized the MERLIN Avian Radar in a study of soaring migrants and their attraction to an offshore wind farm in Denmark during the autumn raptor migration in 2010 and 2011.

Fijn et al. (2015) implemented the MERLIN Avian Radar system at the Dutch offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee from June 2007 to May 2010 in order to study bird flight intensity in the rotor swept zone (25m-115m) over the North Sea. The Merlin system was used to observe fluxes as well as flight altitudes and paths.

Krijgsveld et al. (2011) studied the collision risks and barrier effects of birds due to the Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands using the MERLIN Avian Radar System between April 2007 and June 2010.

Verfuss et al. (2017) compared and discussed a variety of methods suitable for monitoring marine mammals in low visibility conditions during seismic surveys, including the Night Hawk system.

Moron et al. (2018) recorded Clymene dolphin whistles in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean in 2016 using a Night Hawk III four-element towed array.

Verfuss et al. (2017) compared and discussed a variety of methods suitable for monitoring marine mammals in low visibility conditions during seismic surveys, including the Night Hawk system.

Moron et al. (2018) recorded Clymene dolphin whistles in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean in 2016 using a Night Hawk III four-element towed array.

Elzinga et al. (2019) tested the Noise Mitigation System at the Butendiek and Luchterduinen Offshore Wind Parks in the Netherlands in the fall of 2018.

Wochner (2019) discussed the three approaches to reducing noise from pile driving: reducing at the source, breaking the transmissions path, and noise absorption.

Clausen et al. (2019) examined the performance of different passive acoustic monitoring filters and detectors in varying ocean noise environments. The PAMGuard system was used to analyse harbour porpoise clicks and ambient noise data collected in the spring of 2013 and summer of 2014 in the west of Denmark.

Sarnocinska et al. (2017) observed harbor porpoises in the Danish Great and Little Belts between June and November, 2015 with C-PODS and PAMGuard. The accuracy of both methods was compared.

Keating et al. (2013) describe the beaked whale detectors and classifiers used during beaked whale surveys in Southern California (US) in the summer and fall of 2012.

Yack et al. (2009) evaluated the efficacy of using PAMGuard software (version 1.0) to detect cetaceans in marine environments by comparing manual detections to those made by PAMGuard during a SWFSC dolphin survey conducted in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean from 20 August to 28 November, 2007.

Bureau Waardenburg (2020) conducted a survey of reef establishment techniques in the interest of enhancing ecosystem health around wind farms in the North Sea. Artificial reef structures such as reef cubes were included in the "toolbox" discussed.

Brock et al. (1989) compared the efficacy of four artificial reef structures in establishing reef habitat over 12 years off of Oahu, Hawaii (US).

Del Vita (2016) conducted hydraulic analysis of reef balls in a flume at the University of Naples.

Scyphers et al. (2015) compared the habitat value of oyster shell bags and Reef Balls along eroding coastline in Alabama (US) over the course of two years.

Langhamer et al. (2012) evaluated the state of artificial reef technology as it relates to the development of marine energy resources. Reef Balls were considered in their application around the base of marine energy infrastructure projects.

Wilson (2007) discussed benthic habitat changes expected in the development of offshore wind turbine. Measures for improving habitat such as artificial reef structures and scour protection measures were also discussed.

Rabie et al. (2022) used ReBat as part of a Turbine Integrated Mortality Reduction (TIMR) system-curtailed turbines on 10 turbines at a wind farm in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin (US) in 2008-2009.

Foo et al. (2017) used Rebat on two operational wind turbines at Wolf Ridge Wind farm in the southern Great Plains (US) from July 2010 - 2011 to look at bat mortality rates and forging habits in proximity to wind farms.

Zehtindjiev & Whitfield (2021) used the Robin Radar 3D Flex system at the Kaliakra Wind Farm (Bulgaria) to reduce collision risk between December 2020 and February 2021 and to test the system's ability to shut down a turbine to avoid collisions.

Niemi & Tanttu (2020) used the Robin Radar 3D Flex system as part of a deep learning–based automatic bird identification system that was evaluated in terms of bird detection and identification ability at the Tahkoluoto Offshore Wind Farm (Finland).

Soni et al. (2020) evaluated the SafeWind System at Hassel Wind Park in Germany in 2018. They looked at detection range and reaction range for several species.

Salkanović et al. (2020) evaluated various systems which use artificial intelligence software with the intent of predicting bird and bat turbine collisions.

Roche et al. (2017) tested the SafeWind system on a 2MW turbine in Mayenne, France during October 2016. Four cameras were installed in addition to a collision recording device. Infrared and video recordings were taken in addition to meteorological measurements. Experimentation is ongoing.

SEDflume has been applied at over 100 sites worldwide to characterize sediment erodibility. McNeil et. al (1996) and Roberts et. al (1998) laid the groundwork for further development and applications by Integral Consulting staff. Use of SEDflume and its methods have been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate sediment mobility and inform engineering design. SEDflume has not been applied for an offshore wind development yet.

Leroux et al (2024) used SM4BAT FS recorders to quantify Pipistrellus pipistrellus activity acoustically at 361 site nights in western France in June at regular incremental distances from the wind turbines. They found that P. pipistrellus avoid the wake area, detecting less activity leeward of turbines than windward (upwind) at relatively moderate and high wind speeds. Whether the bats were attracted or avoided the turbine depended on the angle from the wake area, suggesting that changes in airflows around operating wind turbines can strongly impact the way bats use habitats up to at least 1500 m from the turbines.

Bennet et al (2022) carried out the first empirical study of operational curtailment in Australia. They compared bat fatalities before (2018) and after (2019) operational curtailment was implemented, while monitoring bat call activity using SM4BAT FS recorders. Curtailment significantly reduced bat mortality by 54%. However, bat call activity did not decline during the study period, and thus were not an explanation for the reduction in fatalities.

Starbuck et al. (2022) used SonoBat to monitor bat activity at 92 sites in northern Arizona (US) in summer and fall of 2016 and 2017 and analyze how land cover and topography effects bat activity.

Grider et al. (2016) used SonoBat to monitor nightly bat activity at 6 locations in North Carolina (US) from September 2012 to August 2014 using data collected by Song Meter.

Graham et al. (2023) used clusters of SoundTrap acoustic recorders to examine how small cetaceans responded to disturbances during construction at an offshore wind farm in Scotland between August and September of 2019. They found that harbour porpoises showed significant directional movement away from sound sources during acoustic deterrent device use and piling soft starts.

Gall et al. (2023) investigated the effects of pre-piling activities on local soundscapes and harbour porpoise occurrence during the construction of two deep-water offshore windfarms in NE Scotland. They measured sound levels using SoundTrap bottom-mounted noise recorders in September 2017 and July 2019. They found that harbour porpoise acoustic detection decreased prior to piling, potentially in response to increased vessel traffic. These results may indicate evidence of displacement prior to active mitigation activities.