Concern over effect of blades and wind-farm construction on birds
Bird lovers are keeping an eagle eye on wind farm projects, amid fears rare species could fall victim to “death by a thousand blades”.
Tasmania
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BIRD lovers say Tasmania’s wind farm boom will result in more endangered wedge-tailed eagles and others species suffering “death by a thousand blades”.
Ten new wind farms are either under construction or planned at places including Cattle Hill in the Central Highlands, Granville Harbour, Port Latta, Robbins Island and Western Plains near Stanley.
Between them these projects will have more than 500 turbines.
BirdLife Tasmania convenor Eric Woehler said adding the associated infrastructure such as transmission lines and towers, and the cumulative web of bird hazards escalated dramatically.
The Cattle Hill development will include a trial involving monitoring towers which will spot eagles and turn off turbines as they approach.
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Dr Woehler said he had particular concerns about UPC Renewables Robbins Island/Jim’s Plains project.
It will be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere and built in an area that attracts migratory birds.
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“To reach the island for construction, a causeway and bridge system would be built over 1.4km of free-flowing tidal wetlands,” Dr Woehler said.
“These wetlands are the summer home to more than 10,000 migratory shorebirds and the Robbins Passage-Boullanger Bay wetland complex is considered Tasmania’s most important shorebird site and a critical part of the global flyway that stretches from Australia through eastern Asia to north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia.”
Tasmania supported renewable energy as a means of addressing the climate emergency, Dr Woehler said.
“But just because a project is offering renewable energy, it should not get a free pass to kill endangered species.”
Wedge-tailed eagles are classified as endangered, with about 350 breeding pairs thought to be left.
While it is hard to estimate how many are killed by wind turbines each year, birds have been found dead under turbines.
A TasNetworks report shows 29 died in 2017-18 after coming into contact with electricity infrastructure — up from 12 the year before.
Energy Minister Guy Barnett and the proponents of the Robbins Island wind farm have been approached for comment.
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