Minister Walker is impressed by the performance of the BirdRecorder

High-tech from Baden-Württemberg for the compatibility of wind energy and species protection

On September 2, 2024, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Energy, Thekla Walker MdL, was given a demonstration of how the BirdRecorder, an anti-collision system for birds, works by researchers from the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) at the WINSENT wind energy test field in southern Germany.
The technical system has been developed at the ZSW in recent years using state-of-the-art methods from the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
It is able to monitor the surroundings of wind turbines and prevent protected birds from colliding with the running rotors.

“The BirdRecorder uses eight fixed cameras to permanently monitor the airspace around the wind turbine up to a distance of around 800 meters,” explains ZSW researcher Nico Klar.
“If a flying object is detected, it is tracked along its flight path by a moving pair of telephoto cameras. At the same time, AI is used to determine whether it is a bird and, if so, whether it is a wind energy-sensitive species such as the red kite. At the same time, its distance is permanently determined. If a protected bird falls below a certain safety distance, the wind turbine is stopped so that it can pass safely.”

The BirdRecorder’s smart species detection enables the shortest possible but very effective shutdown times, in contrast to the blanket shutdown times that are still often required by licensing law and sometimes last for months.
Demand-based shutdowns can minimize the resulting loss of electricity yield while optimally protecting the birds.
“Our specially developed AI models are already able to recognize with 95% certainty whether a red kite is present or not. This allows us to optimize the economic yield of wind turbines and their protective function against birds at the same time,” says Nico Klar.

The BirdRecorder was developed completely independently by the ZSW with funding from the federal government and the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Minister Walker emphasizes: “The system is a prime example of high-tech made in Baden-Württemberg. It is an important milestone on the way to reconciling wind energy use and species protection.”
The ZSW scientists demonstrated to the Minister how well the system already works in practice on a wind turbine in the test field.