Bird cameras monitoring the floating offshore wind turbine TetraSpar at METCentre off the coast of Norway have recorded no collisions over two years of monitoring. In October 2023, an adjustment was made to the equipment to better detect potential collisions. Even after this adjustment, not a single collision was registered.
Norwegian company Spoor has mapped bird activity at the floating offshore wind turbine at the Marine Energy Test Centre (METCentre), 10km off the coast of Karmøy, since January 2022.
It says the cameras have captured over 21,000 bird passages since the monitoring began.
Arvid Nesse, head of METCentre and Norwegian Offshore Wind, said “These are very positive results. Analyses of birds and their movement patterns are important for the industry’s continued focus on offshore wind in Norway. The knowledge we have gained through this project will be valuable for understanding the coexistence between birds and wind turbines”.
METCentre is located close to the area where Norway’s first large-scale floating offshore wind farm, Utsira Nord, will be built.
“These are Norway’s first two offshore wind turbines, and we are pleased that they are being used to increase knowledge about coexistence,” said Nesse.
METCentre has been granted a permit to install a total of seven different floating technologies for renewable energy production. The test center is involved in several research projects on nature, the environment, marine life, and bird research.