Harmony between wind energy and bats

Natural Power has launched DARC (Detection and Active Response Curtailment), a bat smart curtailment technology to simultaneously reduce bat fatalities and energy losses at wind farms. An acoustic monitor sits on top of the nacelle and listens for bat calls. When it detects bat activity, it sends a signal to the DARC server where it is processed alongside other SCADA signals from the turbine and meteorological data. The server then decides whether the turbine should shut down or not. If it forces a shut down, the blades will slowly come to a stop before lying motionless for 30 minutes. If more bat activity is detected during this time, the turbines will continue to lie still for 10 minute increments until no activity is detected. The turbines will then start up again.

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