Translational science for renewable energy and its wildlife concerns: a synthesis of wind energy buildout, bat population ecology, and habitat constraints

Wind energy is poised for rapid growth over the next 2-3 decades yet fatalities to birds and bats is a leading concern that may constrain wind energy development in the US. This working group will integrate wind energy forecasting models with bat ecological models and management policy considerations to transform our ability to understand and manage renewable energy development while minimizing unintended consequences to wildlife and habitat. The key activities include: 1. Simulate tiered wind energy deployment constraints representing impact mitigation to assess effects to both species’ habitat and wind energy development; 2. integrate wind energy forecast simulations and bat demographic models to elucidate the influence each have on the other; and 3. leverage information from mortality data to make progress towards the development and evaluation of predictive models. The relatively diverse working group will coproduce several scientific papers with managers, distribute new energy supply curves that incorporate conservation actions, and develop a modelling framework that can be extend to both other energy types and other species.



Principal Investigator(s):

Jay Diffendorfer (USGS - Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center)

Anthony Lopez (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Bethany Straw (USGS - Fort Collins Science Center)