Balancing bird safety and offshore wind operations
Night-vision cameras and cutting-edge bird radars are installed and gathering data.
Offshore wind and bird safety can go hand in hand — but it requires knowledge, innovation, and collaboration. BirdSafe stands for Better Integrated Response for Diminishing Strikes in Offshore Wind Flight Environments. The project is an ambitious research effort aimed at balancing bird safety, energy security, and operational costs in offshore wind farms.
The project focuses on collecting high-quality data on bird migration, especially of songbirds during autumn migration, when the risk of collisions is higher. This autumn, 60 night vision cameras are deployed at the Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm, their data is complemented by radar data from Gemini Wind park and other specialised bird radars. This data will be analysed in the coming months. This extensive monitoring will track bird movements around and through the wind farms and record bird activity near and collisions with individual turbines.
The collected data will be used to improve models that predict bird collisions and flight behaviour in offshore wind farms. These models will help identify risk factors and inform practical curtailment strategies that take into account ecological, financial, and energy supply considerations. The recommendations will be developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including NGOs, government agencies, TenneT, and wind farm operators.
Most of the camera systems were installed in September and October this year, and these, together with the radars, will be used to analyse the autumn migration of 2025. In 2026, additional sensors will be installed for the autumn migration of that year.
The first results of the analysis will be available at the beginning of the second quarter of 2026.
Get an impression of the installation of night-vision cameras :
The project consortium consists of Equinor, FØN Energy Services, Gemini Windpark, Robin Radar Systems, SSE, TNO, Vattenfall, Wageningen University & Research and the University of Amsterdam. This project is part of the @GROW offshore wind programme.
Learn more about the BirdSafe project on the project page:
