Client: Dominion Energy
Project Highlights: Deployed Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring (ATOM) on the two wind turbines at the Coastal Virgnia Offshore Wind Pilot Project; ATOM collected data on bird and bat behavior in the rotor swept zone of each turbine using thermal and visible-light cameras, bird and bat acoustics, and a VHF Motus receiver. This data provides insights in the timing of bird and bat movements along with foraging and avoidance behaviors at the turbines.
Services Provided:
- Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring (ATOM)
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Project includes two 6.0 MW Wind Turbine Generators that are installed approximately 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia. To remain in compliance with federal regulations and the requirements agreed to in the Research and Activities Plan, Dominion hired Normandeau Associates, Inc. to build and deploy an offshore bird and bat monitoring system for each of the two wind turbines. The bird and bat monitoring system, called ATOM (Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring), provides detection capabilities at four levels: 1) thermographic camera to detect targets in flight during the day and night, 2) acoustic detectors to record vocalizing birds and bats, 3) a visible light camera to record flying targets in the rotor swept zone during the day, and 4) a Yagi antenna to record Motus-tagged birds flying within proximity to the wind turbine generators. Data from this system helps understand the bird and bat species composition in the area, understand foraging and avoidance behaviors, and inform what species could potentially be at risk from the wind turbine generators. This system provides an automated approach to offshore bird and bat detection and reduces the labor required to collect offshore wildlife data. The automation and technology included in the system reduces labor costs and provides high-value data for Dominion.
