Posted on 02/23/2015 2:51:27 PM PST by matt04
More than 100 birds have been injured during testing of a new solar power farm.
Biologists say 130 birds caught fire mid-air while entering an area of concentrated solar energy created by the 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project near Tonopah, Nevada.
Experts believe the birds may have been attracted by the glow of the farm’s tower, but the project’s owners, SolarReserve, say they have found a way to reduce the fatalities.
The solar project is close to being completion and is set to go launch next month.
Thousands of mirrors focus sunlight onto one central tower to melt salt inside it, which will in turn heat water so that steam will turn turbines to generate electricity.
At its peak, the project will produce 110 megawatts of electricity, which will be sold to NV Energy – a firm that powers the majority of homes in Nevada, Rewire reported.
In a test, one third of the project’s 10,000 mirrors were moved to focus sunlight at a point 1,200 feet above ground level – at approximately twice the height of its tower.
It took biologists just an hour and a half to notice the first of the ‘streamers’ – birds that catch fire and leave a trail of smoke in the air -when entering the field of solar energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Adding to your post - every one of these turbines is connected by underground cabling and gravel roads. Quite a ‘footprint’ when viewed from above (Google Earth).
It absolutely blows my mind to think of all the copper cabling, carbon fiber blades, lighted towers, and quarried rock that goes into such a small energy source...and anyone would call it ‘green’.
And they won’t last 20 years. I’ve seen broken turbines left to rot already - early test cases put up in Kansas. Very few machines can be left out in the weather for too long, without something going wrong.
World’s largest bug zapper.
Crispy duck is one of my favorites.
I think they should call the flaming birds... “Smokey”...like in the movie Smokey and the Bandit
The star of that movie was a “Black Firebird” after all and Smokey was hot on his ass
Between this and windmills it’s clear: enviros have a War on Birds.
Those are panels, not mirrors.
Always think that someone is making lots of money and some politicians are sharing in the proceeds.
Now THIS would be a funny SNL skit.
Funny....that’s one of the first things the pro-wind Greenies say on the topic of bird kills.
Is there any legitimate reasoning for such a maneuver?
What scientific hypothesis is questioned?
How long does it take to relocate 10,00 mirrors?
Nobody can stop them..when the Fed's are funding them.
No birds getting streamered
Lefties only care about the environment as an extortion tool.
I know this will sound rather sick, but is there any video of this?
DOH !!
Great minds . . . but I don't call it sick. I could find no actual "streamers" on YouTube, just people talking about it. (Intentional omission?)
It's too bad some enterprising conservative couldn't get some video of these poor birds, circulate it among the Greenies, and watch their heads explode.
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