© A. Rose
ProTecBird – avoiding collisions with wind turbines
With the AVES system, ProTecBird offers solutions to automatically detect and identify birds on species level. One of the aims is to avoid collisions of protected species with wind turbines.
Please refer to www.protecbird.com for further information about ProTecBird.
Species protection using AI-based technology
ProTecBird is joint venture specializing in species and environmental protection related to birds and was founded by the companies BioConsult SH and Protectis Air in November 2021. It combines the biological expertise of BioConsult SH and the know-how in the field of technical protection concepts of Protectis Air.
With the AVES system, ProTecBird offers innovative AI-based product solutions to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies by at the same time reducing .risks for health and material damages in the industrial and agricultural sector.
Four AVES product solutions
AVES Wind Onshore
AVES Wind Onshore serves to protect birds, solving an important conflict with species protection legislation in the approval of wind turbines. Integration of the system into the wind farm control system will enhance further development of onshore wind energy use.
AVES (Avian VErification System) is a camera-based bird detection system. It filters characteristic features and movement patterns of wind farm sensitive bird species which might collide with the rotor blades from one or more live video streams recording moving objects. The combination of several cameras distributed across the wind farm allows to track flight direction and speed of birds approaching a particular wind turbine or the boundaries of the wind farm. If a wind farm sensible bird species exceeds a defined minimum distance and further approaches a wind turbine (reaction area), a signal is sent to the wind turbine which is switched to idle mode for a short period of time. The rotor speed is reduced to avoid a significant risk of bird strike.
The idle mode is terminated as soon as the bird leaves the coverage range of the cameras. Event-related shut-downs will reduce the need for legally required general and long-term downtimes (e. g. during the breeding season or cultivation with low flight activity) and thus enhances the efficiency of wind turbines and the entire wind farm.
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Red kite in the wind test field detected as a target by the AVES system.
AVES Wind Offshore
When planning and approving offshore wind turbines, the special provisions for the protection of avifauna must be taken into account. So far, the AVES offshore system is solely a monitoring system to determine how many birds cross the rotor swept area at what time (day and night).
AVES Industry/Airport
AVES Industry and AVES Airport are solutions for the industrial sector to deter birds event-related from a defined area to avoid damage or soiling.
Camera system and functionality of AVES Onshore and AVES Industry.
Further information
The development of AVES Onshore is funded by the Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation of Schleswig-Holstein. Proof of concept (reduction of the significantly increased risk of collision fatalities of the respective wind farm sensible species) of the AVES system by 2023 by independent consultants, the Competence Centre for Nature Conservation and Energy Transition (KNE) and the state environmental agency (LfU).
