Read more: MaREI Marine Research Science Science Foundation Ireland SFI

A new project led by MaREI, the SFI Research Center for Energy, Climate and the Sea aims to maximize the benefits of biodiversity on wind farms.

Nature + Energy will develop new ways to account for the value of nature in wind farms and establish a cutting-edge environmental monitoring system across the country that will revolutionize the way we measure and monitor biodiversity.

Co-funded by Wind Energy Ireland and eight Irish renewable energy companies, the project recognizes the need to enhance nature’s contributions to people by improving understanding of how the diversity and connectivity of habitats can be enhanced through management. wind farms for conservation.

Dr Ian Donohue, Project Coordinator and Principal Investigator at Nature +, Trinity’s Center for Biodiversity & Sustainable Nature Based Solutions and Associate Professor at Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences, said: “The project is based on the idea that wind farms have the potential to provide much more than renewable energy. If managed properly, the biodiversity of onshore wind farms has the potential not only to remove even more carbon from the atmosphere, but also to improve the resilience of ecosystems to climate change and improve the delivery of ecosystem services, such as crop pollination and water filtration. , which nature does for us for free. Wind farms could indeed operate almost like miniature reserves across the country. “

In 2020, wind power provided 36% of total electricity demand, and the overall renewable electricity supply is expected to reach 70% by 2030 with the construction of new wind and solar farms. This will help Ireland reduce its dependence on environmentally harmful fossil fuels and meet its climate change targets.

Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) is a tool for integrating nature into decision making and is a way to reduce and reverse global trends in environmental degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss . Nature + Energy will develop “natural capital accounts†for the wind sector, which will form the basis of a decision support tool for land use planning for onshore wind energy.

Jane Stout, Senior Researcher at Nature + and Professor at Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences, describes natural capital as an economic metaphor for nature: “It is a concept that defines natural systems as stocks of assets that provide a flow. benefits to people. Building on previous projects led by Trinity, this project will develop ways to assess natural capital at wind farm sites. “

The Nature + Energy project includes collaborators Prof Yvonne Buckley (Nature + Center, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin) and Prof Andrew Parnell (Hamilton Institute, Maynooth University). Dr Aoibheann Gaughran (School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin) has been recruited as Project Manager.

TechCentral Reporters

Read more: MaREI Marine Research Science Science Foundation Ireland SFI