One of our goals at the California Academy of Sciences is to be as green and sustainable as humanly possible. We don't just want to talk about it. We want to live it. But, what we are finding is that going green sounds good on paper, but it can have unintended consequences.
Such was the case of one of the country's longest running experiments in green energy, the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWR). Located east of Livermore, the APWR is the site of the first wind farm in the country. It was installed in 1982, in response to the previous decade's energy crisis. It has over 5,000 windmills with a combined capacity of 580 megawatts. However, their average yearly production is 150 megawatts due to wind fluctuations throughout the year. But it has a problem that was unforeseen.
No environmental impact study was done on the area, which lies along the path of a major raptor migration corridor. It is also a major raptor wintering ground. As a result, the APWR is responsible for the deaths of the most birds of prey of any wind facility in the world.
In 2004, a report by the California Energy Commission stated that the Altamont windmills killed between 880 to 1,300 birds of prey a year. Those included 116 golden eagles and 300 red-tailed hawks as well as numerous burrowing owls kestrels, falcons, and vultures. Because of this incredibly high mortality rate, Alameda County regulators would not let additional windmills be installed. This was unfortunate, because California has a goal of obtaining 20% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2010, and the APWR wasn't going to be able to take advantage of that windfall.
Then in 2005, the companies that owned the windmills took unprecedented action. They initiated the seasonal shutdown of 1/2 of their turbines from November to February. In addition to this, they implemented several other strategies to minimize raptor deaths including the relocation or removal of 100 of the most lethal windmills. Their stated goal was to reduce avian deaths 35% by 2008.
