Abstract
This report is in German.
The research project “Prognosis and assessment of collision risks of birds at wind turbines in northern Germany” (PROGRESS) deals with bird collisions, a central area of conflict between the development of further wind energy use and nature conservation. Since many bird and all bird of prey species are strictly protected by EU legislation, collisions present a legally important conservation aspect in the permission process. This research & development project focused on the extent of mortality at wind turbines. Based on this spatial planning background data for the prognosis and assessment of the collision risk with onshore wind turbines were developed.
So far, only locally conducted studies were available for Germany. Therefore, it was the aim of this project to collect a representative dataset on collision rates of birds with onshore wind farms by conducting a systematic field study across several federal states of Northern Germany and to then develop general statements and recommendations for the conflict assessment and conflict resolution as part of the site selection process for further wind energy development. Comprehensive systematic searches for fatalities and observation of flight patterns were performed at various wind farms.
The project extended previous studies in the field of bird collisions at wind turbines and allows an informed assessment of the development of wind energy utilization in Germany.
In the context of PROGRESS the North German lowland was investigated as a focus area for current and future use of wind energy in Germany. 46 windfarms throughout northern Germany were examined. Emphasis was placed on the federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. As some windfarms were investigated more than once, a total of 55 data sets were generated (subsequently termed wind farm season). The determined target species were: birds of prey (occurrence in the VSW list), large birds (often small populations) and breeding and resting bird species (utilization of the wind farm area).
PROGRESS is a collaboration between the three consultancies BioConsult SH GmbH & Co.KG, ARSU GmbH and IfAÖ GmbH and the Department of Animal Behaviour of the University of Bielefeld.
The start of the project was the 1st of November 2011 for a period of up to the 30th of June 2015. A project accompanying group (PAG) met on the 22nd February 2012 at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and on the 22nd of January 2014 at the Federal Ministry for Economic affairs and Energy in Berlin. Two workshops with international participants were held (28./29. November 2012 in the BMU, Berlin and 09. March 2015 at the TU Berlin).