The Drones4Bats project is developing and testing drones that measure bat activities and species. This new method aims to increase the informative value of collected data during the planning phase or operating phase of wind turbines without adding significant effort.
To reduce the number of bat fatalities during wind turbine operation, methods such as shutdown times, calculated based on recorded bat activity, for wind turbines are currently used. Bat activity levels are recorded by experts on the ground and by stationary measuring masts prior to installation of the wind turbines. However, the limited range of ultrasonic microphones means that a large area around a wind turbine cannot currently be covered. This data uncertainties about the real bat activity in the risk area during the construction of wind turbines often arise due to concerns about the protection of strictly protected bat species, which can lead to lawsuits and delays in the installation of wind turbines. While the expansion and efficient operation of wind turbines is an important part of the energy transition, the rate of expansion has slowed in recent years.
In order to find a suitable drone for use, the Drones4Bats project involves cooperation on the user side between the company Windstrom from the wind turbine sector and the SME Vespertilio, an expert for faunistic studies, with the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, as well as the company NXP Semiconductors, which is also transferring sensor technology, communication solutions and battery management from the IoT and automotive sectors to drones. The consortium is supported by Hybrid-Airplane Technologies and 3rd Element Aviation as associated partners, which offer drone technologies relevant to the project.
The collaborative project is iteratively developing and testing a demonstrator for measuring drones that acoustically records bats in the risk area of wind turbines over three years. Three different drones are being systematically compared: two multicopter and a lighter-than-air drone. The demonstrator includes the automatic transmission and evaluation of relevant data in a cloud platform, as well as the autonomous, precise, landing and loading batterie of the measuring drones. The demonstrator is being tested in two use cases in field tests, the transect survey before the installation of a wind turbine and during operation in the wind farm. Research is also being conducted into whether the drones affect the behavior of the bats.
The Drones4Bats project aims to reduce the green-green dilemma between climate protection and species protection and to investigate whether the additional measurements can reduce the specified shutdown times of the wind turbines during operation and at the same time reduce the number of bat fatalities.
Project website: drones4bats.de
