Wind farms are a popular alternative to fossil fuels – popular, at least, with governments who have poured hundreds of billions of dollars globally into renewable energy. In 2020 alone, Europe invested €43bn in new wind farms.
But they are considered by many to be unsightly, a possible source of landslides and low-level noise pollution, and now, as the turbines age and need replacing, an additional landfill problem equal to the difficult-to-dispose-of solar panels.
However, the damage these massive turbines, with blades that can be hundreds of feet long, can also do to wildlife has become a matter of increasing concern.
Now conservationists are worried that an already endangered species, the majestic golden eagle, is in particular danger of being harmed by these enormous blades.
One of the most admired of the birds of prey, golden eagles can have a wingspan of up to eight feet or more, and can soar up to between 10,000 and 20,000 feet. They are extremely swift, reaching speeds of more than 150 miles per hour as they dive on their prey.
Golden eagles can live up to 30 years, but are slow breeders, producing one chick about every two years after they reach their fifth year, according to experts.
They also need territories of some 60 square miles, and the loss of habit from urban sprawl is already a worry, but the birds are a protected species in the U.S.
That’s why one energy provider, NextEra Energy, was prosecuted this year for killing large numbers of golden eagles at wind farms across the United States. The company pleaded guilty to violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and to causing the deaths of at least 150 eagles, with 100 estimated to be goldens.
NextEra was ordered to pay more than $8 million dollars in fines but with funding – including billions in taxpayer funding – pouring into renewable energy, some critics feel a change in design or perspective is needed.
The Associated Press says that scientists fear the further proliferation of wind farms could drive down populations of golden eagles to a precarious level. Green energy advocates argue that rising temperatures may also dangerously reduce eagle breeding ranges.
But the American Eagle Foundation says that wind turbines “present an ever-present danger to not only eagles and other birds of prey, but also to any migratory bird that passes through areas where wind turbine farms have been constructed.”
They point to a “2013 study published in The Wildlife Society Bulletin” which found that wind turbines can kill an estimated 573,000 birds annually in the United States alone.
The Foundation is mistrustful of the number of reported deaths of eagles, claiming that the data is gathered by “paid consultants to the wind industry.”
“That’s the fox guarding the chicken house,” they claim, saying that in one major wind farm region, the Altamont Wind Resource Area in California, “more than 2,000 Golden Eagles have been killed by the wind turbines there.”
It’s certain that the energy companies seem defiant, with NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa saying that bird deaths after collisions with wind turbines were ‘unavoidable accidents that should not be criminalized’.
AP reports that US Geological Survey scientists believe that projected growth in wind farms could cause such a sharp increase in bird deaths that populations of golden eagles could fall by 50% over 10 years.
Some critics say that wind farms need to consider a complete redesign – moving offshore, for example, or employing designs other than long, moving blades. Others say that the impracticalities and unforeseen outcomes of some renewable energy sources should prompt a rethink of alternatives such as nuclear power.
For those seeking to protect golden eagles, one of the most difficult developments to accept is the decision by the federal government in 2016 to grant wind energy developers 30-year permits so that they can “take” or incidentally kill protected species of birds like bald and golden Eagles – without requiring these corporations to publicly share the data on the number of birds killed.
If the eagles are being killed by wind turbines, no-one will be held to account for a long time. That might well be too late.