A new trial for tracking seabirds has been launched at Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm by Vattenfall. Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to gather detailed information of the birds’ movements in the wind farm.
The project will trial new technology to document how seabirds interact with offshore wind turbines. Norwegian Spoor’s AI technology has been developed to track a bird’s 3D flight path in the immediate vicinity of the turbine blades, providing insights on bird flight patterns and behaviour, as well as potentially detecting collisions. Being able to document avoidance behaviour accurately is vital for providing more realistic collision-risk modelling. The information and data can then be used as a basis for establishing collision rates more directly, which will help in the planning of new offshore wind farms. A stakeholder advisory panel has been formed to provide advice and input during the course of the project, including experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Marine Scotland Science, NatureScot, and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
