Birds are getting wiped out left, right, and center at the Mojave Desert solar plant and environmentalists are looking for ways to in which to stop or at least reduce this from happening. Currently, at the Ivanpah Solar Plant birds are seen to be flying into concentrated beams of sunlight and as a result, are instantly incinerated, leaving nothing but a trail off while smoke and have subsequently been nicknamed “streamers” by workers at the plant.
But, the owners are of course concerned and are trying to come up with ways they can stop these fatalities from happening. Already they have tried replacing floodlights with LED bulbs which should attract fewer insects and birds that eat them; rearranged the mirrors to try and reduce the birds exposure to them; fitted each tower with a machine that lets off a non-lethal avian respiratory irritant that is designed to keep birds away; and fitted anti-perching spikes to the frame of the towers along with high-pitched noise making machines. All of these techniques have been used in an attempt to try and deter the birds, but still, they keep coming.
The team is also looking to install Roadrunner exits along the perimeter fence to stop any unsuspecting coyotes getting to them before they have a chance to escape. They will begin with a pilot program that will involve installing four of the Roadrunner exists around one of the towers, and if it works well, they will install more. The company would like to get to the bottom of the bird fatalities as much as everyone else and is currently working alongside state and federal regulators including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do all they can to help and will hopefully have an effective solution in place soon.
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