Evaluación de las medidas de mitigación ambiental en los parques eólicos de la localidad de Tarifa (Estrecho de Gibraltar)

Abstract

Nowadays, with the energetic position that is presented to us, many countries are starting to look for solutions to try to reverse the situation. Thus, there are many making strong invests for the renewable resources, particularly the wind power. This is the most productive resource from the other well-known sustainable resources (solar power, biomass and wave power). But it generates impacts during the pre and post facilities construction. Mainly, two impacts are generated in the environment: first, a visual landscape impact and second, an impact in birds. For these ones, especially raptors, it is generated a loss of habitat, space use modification, and bird fatalities. To alleviate the fatalities impact, in 2008 Junta de Andalucía carried out the protocol design of environmental mitigation measures. It contains: selective stopping of turbines when the birds are watched around the wind farms, carrion coverage to avoid risk situations within the wind farm and daily search of corpses. The objective of this study is to know if these measures are effective for the soaring birds group. It is also analyzed if the mitigation measures are more efficient to certain species. Due to its flight morphology and physical conditions, this group is especially vulnerable to collision with turbines. The study area has 21 wind farms and 267 turbines with different models. Finally, it points out that the mitigation measures have not the same efficiency in all the species of the soaring birds group. To enhance this argument, in certain species such as Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) mitigation measures efficiency has proved. In the other hand, other species such as white stork (Ciconia Ciconia) and black kite (Milvus migrans) mitigation measures efficiency has not been able to prove. Therefore, the mortality rates in this group are significantly different. The collision rates are differing from one species to another for some different reasons: density population, space use within the soaring birds group and the flight behavior. More factors that affect the fatalities rates are the sites where the wind farms are located and the sites where the turbines are located inside the same wind farm