Birds Killed Over Solar Panel Fields

The link between solar facilities and bird deaths is still unclear.

Birds killed over solar panel fields.

The other solar farms analyzed by the investigators were of the newfangled trough and solar power. This results in birds colliding with the surface of the panels. Meanwhile we ve built more wind turbines. This is called a lake effect birds have been found dead wounded or stranded at several solar projects in the desert.

Heat emanating from the ivanpah solar electric generating system the world s largest solar farm of its kind has allegedly killed and injured dozens of birds and other wildlife. Birds can be killed when they smash into the facility s solar panels the investigation concluded. Meanwhile as many as 28 000 birds are killed each year that s one every two minutes by the ivanpah solar plant in the mojave desert according to the u s. Fish and wildlife service.

Another problem with large solar farms is that birds sometimes mistake the glossy blue expanse of solar panels for bodies of water and try to land on them. One leading theory suggests birds mistake the glare from solar panels for the surface of a lake and swoop in for a landing with. A rare and unusual type of solar power plant that concentrates sunlight in california is accidentally killing up to 6 000 birds every year with staff reporting that the birds keep flying into its concentrated beams of sunlight and spontaneously bursting into flames. Federal biologists say about 6 000 birds die from collisions or immolation annually while chasing flying insects around the facility s three 40 story towers which catch sunlight from five square.

According to the audubon society these birds deaths are related to large solar photovoltaic installations in the desert which to waterfowl can appear to look like bodies of water due to the reflectivity of the panels.