Leading bird conservation groups have sounded the alarm about the heavy toll that South Africa’s rapidly expanding wind farms are taking on birds — with some activists accusing “unethical” wind farm operators of trying to hide the true scale of the carnage.
BirdLife South Africa last month released the most comprehensive report yet on the impact that wind farms are having on birds — from sparrows and swallows to vultures, eagles and other raptors — and warned urgent action was needed to halt the harm being done to several endangered and critically endangered species.
Based on data gathered from 33 of the country’s 35 wind farms over eight years to 2023, the report says 2,444 dead birds of more than 200 species were found — but stresses that because of shortcomings in the way surveys are done, this is only a fraction of the true figure.
More than 10% of carcasses found were “species of conservation concern”, those listed regionally or globally as near-threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
All wind farms are legally obliged to have environmental management programmes (EMPs) that include monitoring bird casualties caused by turbines and power lines, and reporting these to the department of fisheries, forests & the environment (DFFE) and BirdLife, but the report says many fail to comply — and two failed to provide any data at all.
Samantha Ralston-Paton, birds and renewable energy project manager at BirdLife, said the NGO supported green energy, but “we’ve been jumping up and down about the problems and making recommendations for years, and if anything, it feels like we’re going backwards”.
Some wind farms “are really doing their best and going above and beyond what is legally required … but then others are getting away with all sorts of things”, she added.
The BirdLife report and VulPro, an NGO focussed on vulture conservation, single out wind farms in the Eastern Cape as among the worst offenders for noncompliance with legislation aimed at protecting biodiversity.
Kate Webster, a VulPro researcher in the province, accused some wind farms of destroying bird carcasses to try to cover up the true scale of the destruction. “I’ve also been told by guys on the ground that they will hide the number of birds that are being killed because it doesn’t reflect well on that wind developer if 10 vultures have been killed on that wind farm,” she said.
“In the Cookhouse area, I’ve been told farm workers have been offered rewards for removing carcasses to minimise the number found. A lot is being hidden, deliberately or not.”
Webster said the Cookhouse area was a prime foraging area for Cape vultures, an endangered species, and at least some of the turbines there should be permanently shut down. “It’s a war zone.”
BirdLife and VulPro say the DFFE should be doing far more to enforce compliance, and crack down on what VulPro CEO Kerri Wolter calls “unethical” wind farms.
The BirdLife report recommends that compliance with EMPs should be regularly audited, and those “not implementing mitigation measures within a reasonable time frame should be fined and/or prosecuted”.
The DFFE needs to take a much stronger stand in terms of ensuring compliance and enforcement. We have submitted complaints in the past and if there has been action, it hasn’t been visible action
— Samantha Ralston-Paton, birds and renewable energy project manager at BirdLife
DFFE spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said the department had some offending wind farms in its sights. “The [BirdLife] report highlights noncompliance by several wind farms regarding their EMPs, particularly in reporting bird fatalities,” he said.
“The department takes such noncompliance seriously and supports enforcement actions against violators where there is clear evidence of failure to comply with legal requirements… The department is considering the initiation of enforcement action in relation to a number of specific facilities.”
Mbelengwa said the DFFE was concerned about gaps in compliance. “The industry must strengthen its commitment to proactive mitigation measures.”
Ralston-Paton said the solution was multipronged. “The DFFE needs to take a much stronger stand in terms of ensuring compliance and enforcement. We have submitted complaints in the past and if there has been action, it hasn’t been visible action,” she said.
“It’s up to the wind farms and the industry to take responsibility for what they’re doing. And then the project financiers, the big banks that are funding this, they’re all on about green energy but we can’t really say it’s green unless they are doing what they need to be doing to mitigate the danger. The frustrating thing is that there are solutions. There’s a lot that can be done, it’s just not being done. Or not being done effectively.”
The South African Wind Energy Association said it was committed “to ensuring wind energy development coexists harmoniously with South Africa’s rich biodiversity”.
The association] said it “actively encourages members to implement avian protection strategies”, including blade patterning — painting turbine blades to make them more visible to birds — and shutdown-on-demand (SDOD). With SDOD, human observers or technology such as cameras and radar, watch for approaching birds and order nearby turbines to stop their blades spinning.
The report warns that the threat to birds will increase dramatically in coming years as wind farms proliferate, noting that the government’s integrated resources plan envisages increasing the amount of energy generated by wind to 17,700MW by 2030.
South Africa now has 1,421 turbines generating about 3,490MW. “We’re heading for a huge calamity,” said Webster.
“This whole process of wind development kind of ran ahead before enough was done to identify the potential problems.”
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