Cape Town-based South African renewable-energy company Red Rocket has announced that it has installed bird (avian) protection systems at its two operational wind farms and will install them at its other wind power projects, currently under development. These systems, developed and installed by Poland-based international avian monitoring and protection systems company Bioseco, are the first automated such systems deployed in South Africa.

“With this partnership, Red Rocket affirms its long-term vision that guides our decisions as we strive to operate sustainably for the benefit of our environment,” highlighted Red Rocket CEO Matteo Brambilla. “We are delighted to work with Bioseco on this project, which marks a pivotal phase in our journey after the recent milestone of the two projects.”

“At Bioseco, sustainability is our DNA,” affirmed Bioseco commercial manager Magda Bielawska. “Our mission is not only to protect birds, but to enhance wind energy production through intelligent environmental integration. This partnership with Red Rocket is a significant step forward, and we are proud to work on this project that has such a positive impact.”

The wind farms concerned are at Brandvalley and Rietkloof, which started commercial operations last month, and which have a combined generating capacity of 144 MW. They are the first two Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme Round 5 projects to enter commercial operation.

The Bioseco system uses optical and radar sensors to detect and track birds, plus the necessary associated computer and control systems to activate the protection devices. Systems are deployed to cover turbines in bird sensitive areas. Should birds be detected in close proximity to a turbine, the system automatically activates audio (noise) and visual deterrents. If these don’t work, the system can temporarily shut down the turbine.

The Bioseco system also monitors bird behaviour. This data is fed into Red Rocket’s supervisory control and data acquisition system.

Hitherto, bird protection systems in South Africa have been manually operated. Consequently, the new system represents, in the words of Red Rocket’s statement, “a huge leap forward”.