Solar to Heat projects vaporize birds, inadvertently reinvent Archimedes' Death Ray

[flacaltenn]

NETTING??? Seriously dude? You gonna go up 200ft to pull the carcass of a Great Blue Heron off of 2 sq miles of NETTING???

Water Birds Turning Up Dead at Solar Projects in the Desert | Solar | ReWire | KCET
Big desert solar installations have a problem: They seem to be imperiling water birds. A ReWire investigation has revealed that since mid-March, two large industrial solar power plants in California's remote, arid desert may have killed or injured more than 20 birds commonly associated with lakes or wetlands rather than the open desert surrounding the projects.

UPDATE: after we went to press, ReWire learned that the toll also includes two individuals of the dramatic wading bird species great blue heron. Details here

it seems very likely that reflections from solar facilities' infrastructure, including photovoltaic panels and mirrors, may well be attracting birds in flight across the open desert, who mistake the broad reflective surfaces for water.

Looks like a lake to ME....

BTW --- IVANPah will use 100 AcreFeet/Year.. That's WITH steam recovery.. Not a minor draw on the desert sub terrain water table.

 

[Abraham3]

I agree with you that the resemblance to water is a risk. It's something that needs attention and I'm quite sure it'll get it.

But, two installations over a period of nine months killing 20 birds? I bet they lost more to simple collisions.

 

[flacaltenn]

I agree with you that the resemblance to water is a risk. It's something that needs attention and I'm quite sure it'll get it.

But, two installations over a period of nine months killing 20 birds? I bet they lost more to simple collisions.

In this case -- it's not just about birds.. Did you the parking lots at that facility? It's the Traffic and transmission lines, and wildlife DISPLACEMENT that occurs with bringing in development. IN FACT ---- that's always been the primary objection to drilling places like ANWAR isn't it? Not the limited land around the wells -- is it?

They had to round-up and relocate HUNDREDS of desert tortoises just to build that facility. And being from Florida --- you know what the roadkill looks like for the first several years after they open a new Florida jungle for a subdivision.. In a slow growing place like the desert -- that spike in carnage can last 10 times as long..

My main beef is that the GOVT shortcut its own procedures to get these projects built. They permitted and did impact studies AS A BUNDLE -- not individually.. If only they did that for nuclear plants in the 70s and 80s --- we might still be building them...

 

[Abraham3]

Then perhaps we should have supported Kyoto. I wish all wildlife could be protected, but moving to alternative energy sources (including nuclear) will harm it far, far less - and offers a FAR brighter future - than will continued reliance on coal and pretroleum. And I really don't know how you can make these arguments with a straight face considering the damage fossil fuels have done to wildlife populations.

 

[Kosh]

Then perhaps we should have supported Kyoto. I wish all wildlife could be protected, but moving to alternative energy sources (including nuclear) will harm it far, far less - and offers a FAR brighter future - than will continued reliance on coal and pretroleum. And I really don't know how you can make these arguments with a straight face considering the damage fossil fuels have done to wildlife populations.

Yes promoting something that has a by product that has a half life of 5000 years is a way to help wildlife sure.

 

[flacaltenn]

Then perhaps we should have supported Kyoto. I wish all wildlife could be protected, but moving to alternative energy sources (including nuclear) will harm it far, far less - and offers a FAR brighter future - than will continued reliance on coal and pretroleum. And I really don't know how you can make these arguments with a straight face considering the damage fossil fuels have done to wildlife populations.

Straight FACE?? You keep pulling out the fossil fuel herring -- but oil is NOT generating electricity for us today.. That leaves coal and nat gas. Nat gas has a very low enviro footprint compared to coal --- ask the Sierra Club.. And no birds are decapitated or roasted at coal plants that I'm aware of..

 

[flacaltenn]

Then perhaps we should have supported Kyoto. I wish all wildlife could be protected, but moving to alternative energy sources (including nuclear) will harm it far, far less - and offers a FAR brighter future - than will continued reliance on coal and pretroleum. And I really don't know how you can make these arguments with a straight face considering the damage fossil fuels have done to wildlife populations.

Yes promoting something that has a by product that has a half life of 5000 years is a way to help wildlife sure.

The half-life of heavy metals and toxics in all those battery wagons is freaking FOREVER. Lots longer than 5000 years.. It's a matter of proper recycling and disposal either way..