This The Revelator article discusses how AI-Backed Sensors Help Reduce Wind Turbine Risks to Protected Birds. A camera detection system is helping the wind energy industry become safer for protected birds, but the technology is still being refined.
On a Wyoming wind farm there is an unusual addition amid the familiar massive wind turbines. A newly built tower, which stands only about 33 feet tall, appears small in comparison to the neighboring 328-feet-tall wind turbines. Atop the miniature tower sits an array of cameras — a layer of devices is arranged in a circle and one camera is stationed above swiveling in different directions. Suddenly, to the west, a speck appears in the sky. The top camera swivels to face the speck, which is steadily growing larger on the horizon. Within seconds, the camera has identified the approaching object as a golden eagle, one of only 40,000 left in the United States — and one that is flying directly toward the wind turbine’s deadly spinning blades.