How Black Paint Pawan can reduce bird death from turbines

Pawan turbines kill a lot of birds, especially eagles and other raptors. The exact number is unknown, as bird deaths are not monitored in many wind farms in the world. A mitigation idea to reduce these numbers – and accepts a political logic against wind turbines – receiving traction: a turbine blade black paint. Circumstantialist Ruel in Said with IEEE spectrum About that 11 years study To reduce the deaths from the raptor, and his surprise at lukewarm reactions from wind-torbine engineers.

How bad are wind turbines for birds?

Roel May: It a lot depends on where you keep the turbine, and whether there is breeding or forging area nearby, and species of birds. If you apply wind turbine smack in the middle of a weak population, the effect may be quite large. The same happened on Smola Island in Norway, which is a warm place for white -tailed eagles. This is where we studied ourselves.

Why are Eagles Pawan Turbine susceptible to Turbine?

May: Rapter species like eagles are very good in flying, but they do not look straight forward; They look down on the ground for hunting. They prefer to use updrafts upwards, but updrafts are common near the streaks where air conditions are good for turbines. So this is a bad combination.

Does wind-torbine type make a difference?

May: Large turbines kill more birds because their blades take more area. But where wind turbines are small, there is often more, so those winds can kill more birds in fields than farms with low, large turbines, at least coast. The offshore winds are difficult to study the fields: you cannot count the exact number of birds that die because you cannot find them; They fall into the sea and they have gone. Some researchers are trying to record confrontation with some researchers Bird radarCamera, and other systems.

You found that the bird’s deaths have fallen by 70 percent due to painting a blade black. Should all wind fields do this?

May: Our study is something that should be repeated in other places as the possibility has site-specific and species-specific effects. A group in the Netherlands depicted the blade and did not see a clear effect. So we need more studies. A study is going on in South Africa where they Painted a blade redAnd some others areStart in vyomingItaly, and SpainUnited Kingdom PlanningA pilot project For offshore turbines. But these studies are difficult to do because the operator has to get exemption from the rules to paint the blade and to hire certified painters that can raped up and down. And it takes a lot of time. We collected data on eagles in Smola for seven years before the blade was painted. After paint, we spent four more years to study the effects.

How engineers responded to your study,

May: Many people of turbine manufacturers asked if I had considered its technical implications. I was not, because I am an ecology, not an engineer. Apparently black blades will heat up more than white blades, which can have structural effects. And black paint is made with carbon, which can affect the performance of turbines when the electricity is hit. Engineers do not like this. Therefore we need to work together to remove these disciplinary silos and develop functional mitigation measures.

This article appears as “Roel May” in the June 2025 print issue.