Texas produces more wind energy than any other state – in fact, twice as much as state No. 2. All of that energy is produced from turbines on land, but there are efforts to invest in offshore projects in the Gulf of Mexico.
So far, that hasn’t happened, though it is underway in other parts of the country. One group paying attention to that development is the Audubon Society, dedicated to conserve birds and their habitats for more than a century now.
Sam Wojcicki, senior director of climate policy at the Audubon Society, joined the Standard with more.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Folks might imagine that the Audubon Society would be absolutely against wind energy, what with the risk of bird strikes and such. But we should clarify that’s not the case, right?
Sam Wojcicki: That’s absolutely not the case. The Audubon Society has long worked to support energy production and to do so in a way that’s responsible for birds.
We’re happy to say that we have found across all wind energy, both onshore and offshore, is that there’s a way to do this that can both add clean energy to the grid while protecting birds and the habitats they need.
I mentioned bird strike; I imagine that’s a danger no matter where the wind turbine is. But what else becomes a factor when it comes to offshore wind?
You know, some of the impacts that can happen to birds include collisions, as you mentioned. But there’s also impacts such as what we call barrier effects or displacement. And this is when birds avoid wind energy areas, but they’re also avoiding important habitat that they need. And it can also sometimes change the flow of, you know, important food sources like fish for seabirds.
And so what we looked at with our offshore wind and birds report that we just released is what are the real impacts, and how much of a risk is this to birds? What we’re actually really encouraged to find is that the risk is not as large as folks may think it is.
But we should emphasize that wherever there are risks, there are also proven solutions that we can undertake to avoid, minimize, offset and monitor the impacts to birds.
Before we get into some of those recommendations, when we’re talking about the birds most affected, what are some of the species that you’ve found?
It’s important to note that not all birds that are in the range of offshore wind turbines are affected. But, you know, some that are are those that fly close to the rotor swept zone. So this is the area that the blades move in. And it’s about equivalent to 12 acres or 10 football fields in diameter.
But it includes birds like pelicans and gulls, terns, albatross, cormorants and gannets. But we’ve seen is that, you know, again, with certain solutions, we can help a lot of these birds avoid the swept zone and really reduce the amount of risk that is posed to each of those species.
So what are those recommendations? What can then we do?
So the science has shown us that there’s a lot of different steps that we can take. For instance, if we plan offshore wind further from rich coastal resources, that also has less impacts on wildlife.
There are also technology solutions. For instance, things as simple as painting blades with certain patterns can help those blades be spotted by birds that fly in that area. The use of red flashing lights can also reduce collision risks for birds.
And we can also use real-time monitoring to figure out exactly what birds are going to be in the area, and when necessary, we can curtail offshore wind to prevent collisions during high seasons of migration.
There’s a ton of best practices that have been used both in the European context and in different parts of the United States coast that are already showing significant reductions in the amount of bird collisions with these offshore wind turbines.
One thing that we have said is we think that there’s a really good story to be told here; that despite some of the information out there, the risk to birds is a lot less than than folks think. And in fact, while 46% of all sea bird species are at risk from invasive species fishing activities and climate change, only 10% of the species offshore are impacted by all forms of energy production, including offshore wind demining.
So, you know, we are able to really embrace some low-cost, relatively easy technologies to reduce these risks. And, you know, I think within the broader context, getting offshore wind onto the grid is going to help reduce the risk from climate change to these same species that are at really high risk, some even at risk of extinction.
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I mentioned there’s some offshore development in the country now. Have you had luck working with developers in implementing these strategies, or do you need more government intervention to make sure that these steps are taken to protect the birds that might be impacted?
Audubon believes in an approach that both encompasses policy solutions, but also working directly with developers. And we have a long history of working very closely with offshore wind developers and onshore wind developers to protect birds.
You know, we have a fantastic office right there in Texas that works directly with developers in Texas on energy projects, but we also have offices all across the country. And Audubon often wants to always get to yes on deployment of clean energy. And so we are often working directly with developers to figure out what we can do based on the specific context of that project. We’ve had a lot of success in getting low-cost solutions in place to protect birds and their habitats.
There are places where additional policy would be helpful – and not just for, you know, the purpose of protecting birds, but also offshore wind, you know, needs additional policy supports in terms of regulatory certainty, permitting certainty and building out the workforce that is needed. And Audubon is also putting forth policy recommendations in our report to help support and grow offshore wind.
Anything else you want to the average listener to know, or maybe the Texas lawmakers just getting back into session right now?
I’ll say that too often we think that a lot of the conversation about additions of energy are kind of framed as perceived trade-offs between conservation, decarbonization, community development and pollution and profitability. But what I’d really drive home is that our report found that while there need to be some steps taken to maintain the right balance, offshore wind can have significant benefit for birds, for people, for our economy.
Right there in Texas, what we found is, you know, you could meet 166% of your electricity needs from offshore wind alone. And I think importantly, this would lower energy costs for consumers. It would make the Texas grid more resilient to cold weather.
And it can provide a lot of jobs right there in Texas. Two firms in particular that used to work, and still work a lot, on oil and gas in the offshore context have also started working on offshore wind. And together they built the first U.S.-built wind turbine installation vessel that’s now being used in offshore wind projects off the coast of Virginia.
Texas is also the home of the company that built the first offshore wind substation near Corpus Christi, and that’s now in use off the coast of Rhode Island.
So this is a good story for birds, but it’s also a good story for jobs. And it’s a place where Texas can continue to lead in energy production.
