NREL Shines Light (Literally) on Bat Behavior

April 15, 2022

With support from WETO, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are working hard to create solutions that protect bats and other wildlife while ensuring sustainable deployment of wind energy.

"After nearly two decades of research, we have developed strategies for measuring wind energy impacts, observing bat behavior around wind turbines, and minimizing collision events," said Cris Hein, program coordinator for the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative and senior project leader for NREL's wind energy environmental science portfolio.

A special issue of the journal Animals explores several of these strategies. Co-edited by Hein, the special issue focuses on advancements in methods used to assess bat populations, tools for studying bat activity and behavior (like thermal imaging cameras), and insights into which stimuli attract bats to wind turbines and which might deter them.

Read more about research on bats and wind energy and learn a few facts about bats.