SKARV
About
SKARV: Active wind turbine control for bird strike prevention
Expanding wind power generation will help meet net-zero emission targets, but this expansion must be done in a way that minimises harm to wildlife.
Bird collisions with wind turbines are widely recognised as a significant environmental impact of wind farms. Beyond the ecological consequences, the issue weakens the sector’s public acceptance and increases operating and permitting costs associated with environmental monitoring programs and impact assessments.
Alongside proper planning and siting, new methods for wind power development are needed to mitigate negative impacts on wildlife. These may include environmentally friendly turbine designs or operational modifications.
The SKARV project targets the second option, by proposing a solution that avoids major modifications to wind farm operation such as shutting down turbines. It involves developing a system to actively adjust the rotational speed of wind turbines when a bird approaches the rotor area. By predicting bird flight paths a few seconds in advance, the turbine speed can be altered slightly to minimise the probability of collisions.
Key information
- Project duration
- 2024 - 2027
- Partners
- SINTEF Energy Research
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research - NINA
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NTNU
- Equinor
- TotalEnergies
- Associated partners
- FME NorthWind – Norwegian Research Centre on Wind Energy
- Technical University of Denmark - DTU
- ABB
- Norwegian Offshore Wind - NOW
- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
- Spoor
Illustration of the SKARV concept. A bird is first detected by a land-based radar. As it approaches the wind farm, it is tracked by a camera mounted on a turbine, which sends data to a central system. Using closed-loop control methods, the system estimates the bird’s most probable points of intersection with the rotor plane (indicated by the blurred area) and modifies the turbine speed to reduce the likelihood of a collision.
This approach ensures no significant loss of power production or disturbances to birds and biodiversity around wind farms. The project will develop and evaluate the feasibility of the collision avoidance control system and identify bird species that could benefit from it.
Financing
This is a Knowledge-building Project for Industry partially financed by the Research Council of Norway.
Contact person
Research Scientist