Map-Based Repowering and Reorganization of a Wind Resource Area to Minimize Burrowing Owl and Other Bird Fatalities

K. Shawn Smallwood, Lee Neher and Douglas A. Bell
Additional contact information
K. Shawn Smallwood: Research Ecologist, 3108 Finch Street, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Lee Neher: Gis Specialist, Neher Consulting, 7241 34th Street, North Highlands, CA 95660, USA
Douglas A. Bell: East Bay Regional Park District, 2950 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, CA 94605-0381, USA

Energies, 2009, vol. 2, issue 4, 1-29

Abstract: Wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (Alameda/Contra Costa Counties, California, USA) generate about 730 GWh of electricity annually, but have been killing thousands of birds each year, including 2 grid cell among 187,908 grid cells sampled from 2,281,169 grid cells comprising a digital elevation model (DEM) of the study area. Fuzzy logic and discriminant function analysis produced likelihood surfaces encompassing most burrowing owl burrows within a fraction of the study area, and the former corresponded with burrowing owl fatalities and the latter with other raptor fatalities. Our ratings of wind turbine hazard were more predictive of burrowing owl fatalities, but would be more difficult to implement. Careful repowering to modern wind turbines would most reduce fatalities of burrowing owls and other birds while adding about 1,000 GWh annually toward California’s 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Keywords: Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area; burrowing owls; fatality rates; fuzzy logic; GIS; raptors; rating system; ground squirrels; Vasco Caves Regional Preserve; wind turbines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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