How Many Birds Have Been Killed By Solar Panels

Fish and wildlife service.

How many birds have been killed by solar panels.

Meanwhile wind turbines and solar panels are going up at a record pace and scientists are reporting a full blown crisis in the disappearance of 29 percent of north american birds. Yes birds have died at solar photovoltaic projects some of them from crashing into panels or other infrastructure. But there s hardly any science examining how many birds deaths are caused solar. 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.

Fish and wildlife study earlier this year found only 233 bird deaths at three different solar farms in california over the course of two years. 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. This is called a lake effect birds have been found dead wounded or stranded at several solar projects in the desert. The other solar farms analyzed by the investigators were of the newfangled trough and solar.

We have clarified this article to explain how the solar thermal plant differs from the far more common design used in photovoltaic solar farms. If they do they can basically get cooked by the high energy rays. Bird deaths from solar farms have been estimated to be relatively low though a u s. The estimate by biologists is that the ivanpah solar plant kills about 3 500 birds per year this way.

A 2013 study published in the wildlife society bulletin found that wind turbines killed an estimated 573 000 birds annually in the united states. Coverage of the ivanpah bird problem has contributed to the unfounded misconception that solar panels may kill birds. As for coal those bird death numbers came from a peer reviewed study in the journal renewable energy. Solar facilities kill tens of thousands of birds every year and no one is quite sure why.

With a concentraing solar plant birds can be harmed when they fly too close to the path of the reflected solar energy. Birds can be killed when they smash into the facility s solar panels the investigation concluded.