Nature conservation pre-assessment and risk analysis for wind farms
Nature conservation pre-assessment for wind farms: we assess site risks early and show whether your investment is worthwhile.
Already in pre-development, we recommend a nature conservation pre-assessment and an initial site evaluation. It helps you to better assess nature conservation risks so that your investments at the site can be planned optimally. For this we evaluate existing data before costly field surveys begin. The report shows where conflicts are likely and where they are not. This helps in deciding whether and in what form the project is pursued further. An early assessment can also show which avoidance measures, such as shutdown periods, are to be expected in later operation.
A nature conservation pre-assessment for a wind farm generally begins with an evaluation of existing data and a site visit. It checks whether protected areas such as national parks, Natura 2000 sites or nature reserves are affected, which wind-sensitive species occur in the surroundings, and where habitats, migration corridors or roosting opportunities are located. Particular attention is paid to birds of prey and bats, because they can be endangered by collisions. A pre-assessment does not replace detailed surveys, but it shows where these need to start and which conflict topics are to be expected in the procedure. For bats, roost trees, hunting grounds and flight corridors in the surroundings are assessed in advance. Their activity varies greatly between sites and years and depends on wind speed, weather and season; the survey periods are set on a site-specific basis by expert assessment. For birds, breeding sites and the use of space by birds of prey are the focus, and a planning area around the planned turbines and a wider study area are considered.
Only on the basis of an expert risk assessment do you know whether the investment is worthwhile and which nature conservation risks the project carries. We compile the existing nature-conservation-relevant data base and produce a meaningful report. On request, we clarify the feasibility of your project together with the authorities. A look at comprehensive surveys for an EIA procedure shows what the effort will later look like: they often extend over one to two years, and the specialist contributions fill several hundred pages. Anyone who knows the risks beforehand plans time and budget more realistically. The result facilitates discussions with landowners, the municipality and the authorities, because it shows early which conflicts can be solved. Anyone who knows the survey season can commission field surveys in good time, because the activity of bats and birds is strongly seasonal.
The nature conservation pre-assessment complements the technical and economic feasibility studies. If the project is pursued further, the detailed nature conservation surveys follow, and later the nature conservation specialist contribution for permitting. Nature conservation topics are also among the questions that often concern residents and municipalities. Anyone who can answer them early conducts the conversation on a factual basis; more on this in project presentation and public relations for wind farms.
