Chapter 5 Threats
5.5.8 Wind Energy – Anticipated Impacts Wind energy uses turbines carrying rotary blades designed to capture kinetic wind energy and convert it into electricity that can be used locally, stored for later use, or provided to an energy grid. Large arrays of wind turbines are often referred to as wind power farms, and they require an extensive power collection, storage, and distribution system for delivering electricity. Typical wind power farms also need some type of supervisory control and data acquisition system for two-way communications with each wind turbine as well as maintenance facilities for service equipment, spare parts, lubricants, and other supplies. These maintenance facilities can be located on- or off-site and may be combined into one building. At least one access road is needed to access the wind turbines, delivery systems, and maintenance facilities. North Carolina has good-to-outstanding wind resource potential along the coast and mountain ridges (WINDExchange 2015). The Amazon Wind Farm US East, operated by Iberdrola Renewables at Desert Wind, is the first utility-scale wind farm in North Carolina and one of the first in the southeastern United States. The facility covers about 34 square miles and has a total capacity of 208 megawatts energy. The site has 104 turbines that are each 492 feet tall (Murawski 2015, Iberdrola 2025) . The facility reached full commercial operation in February 2017 but began delivering power in December 2016. There have been no wind farms in the state prior to this project so there is no documentation about the effects a wind farm will have on wildlife in North Carolina. There is the potential for turbines to have a greater impact on nocturnal migrating birds and bats, especially in the eastern part of the state where there is a major migratory flyway. Monitoring and research will be needed at the site and in surrounding landscapes to evaluate the impacts, if any, this facility will have on wildlife and nearby habitats. A scan of research about wind energy impacts to wildlife in other locations consistently indicates the potential for high impacts to birds and bats (Watson et al. 2018, Bispo et al. 2019, Allison et al. 2019, AWWI 2021). For birds, mean estimated fatality rates from studies range from three to six birds per MW per year for all species combined (AWWI 2021) . For bats, mean estimated facility rates are higher and more variable, generally ranging from four to seven bats per MW per year, but at higher rates (up to 50 bats per MW per year) where turbines are located along forested ridgelines of the central Appalachians (AWWI 2021) . It is widely acknowledged that birds and bats suffer the most impacts from the operation of large wind turbines due to collision with the turbines' blades. Siting of wind farms in areas actively used by birds (e.g., flyways) was a major contributor to mortalities to birds as well as bats (Kuvlesky et al. 2007; Northrup and Wittmyer 2013) . Using three studies analyzing 2012 data, the American Bird Conservancy summarized estimates of birds killed by wind turbines ranged from 140,000 to 679,000 per year (ABC 2021) . Habitat impacts of wind energy development are difficult to assess. An individual wind energy facility may encompass thousands of acres, but only a small percentage of the landscape within the project area is directly transformed. If a project is sited in previously undisturbed habitat,
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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