The Startup Using AI To Prevent Bird Fatalities Due to Wind Turbines

The Startup Using AI To Prevent Bird Fatalities Due to Wind Turbines

Bird strikes on windmills are more common than you think. A study held in 2012 shows bird strikes leading to nearly 366000 bird deaths on average in the US alone. With the uptick in renewable energy, windmill installations have gone up by 47%, which raises concern for birds like raptors and falcons, which are the highest affected types. A Colorado based company, IdentiFlight looks to remedy that by reducing bird fatalities by upto 85%.

Founded in 2016, IdentiFlight uses machine vision and AI software to identify birds flying towards windmills and curtails turbines in case a collision is inbound. As stated on their website, “Curtailment criteria are ultimately defined by the operator and are highly configurable.”

IdentiFlight has seen 150 installations across the globe in 5 countries, with 2 million positive detections. Duke Energy’s Top of The World Wind Power project saw an 82 percent decrease in eagle collisions with little to no loss in efficiency, claims the firm.

IDI Journey to Curtailment from Boulder Imaging on Vimeo.

IdentiFlight uses a combination of industry leading proprietary software and algorithms, wide-field-of-view cameras and high resolution stereoscopic cameras to provide real-time bird detection and tracking with extremely high accuracy. Machine vision and a neural network allows it to classify the birds. IdentiFlight data utilizes AI techniques to optimize the curtailment prescription. Studies suggest that bird behaviour near some turbines may be inherently less risky than near others, signifying an ability to further optimize the balance between risk and conservation.

IdentiFlight’s notable installations so far include the Top of the World wind farm and the Cattle Hill Wind Farm. They have also received the French authority’s acceptance and are looking to study bird species in South Africa.

The work of such firms is critical to faster acceptance of wind energy, which has been mired in approval delays across the western world in particular, with backlogs running into tends of GWs for approval before work can even start.