4C is now TGS

We are excited to announce a significant milestone in 4C Offshore's journey. Our integration into the TGS family marks the beginning of a new era in offshore wind market intelligence.

Learn what this means for you!

Screaming flashing "scarecrow" reduces bird droppings

By: Tom Russell 23/05/2017 Scaretech

General Windfarms

Trials for a new technology aimed at reducing seabird droppings at offshore wind farms have been held at DONG Energy's Race Bank project.

The product is based on a traditional scarecrow concept and adapted for the harsh offshore environment of a wind farm. Designed to look like an offshore wind worker in full protective clothing, Scaretech is manufactured from steel, flexible foam and PVC and powered by solar panels. It is securely fixed to the offshore structure so it can operate in extreme weather conditions.

As well as having flexibility to simulate a living person, Scaretech emits sporadic and sensored loud noises and high intensity strobe lights which deter seabirds from landing on the structure.

Scaretech’ was trialled for three weeks at the wind farm off the North-East coast and during that time no new guano was recorded on the treated areas.

Scaretech Global’s marketing and sales director, Alison Isbister, said: “Guano poses a serious health hazard and is a huge risk as it often results in costly operational delays and clean-up costs.

“Previous attempts at managing the problem have proved ineffective and tend to be reactive, which is why we recognise a huge opportunity for the Scaretech product. It’s a really simple concept, based on hundreds of years-worth of evidence showing scarecrows as an effective bird deterrent."

Race Bank is currently under construction and will consist of a total of 91 turbines in total. Construction of the project is being managed from DONG Energy's construction base in the Port of Grimsby Fish Docks.

Each of the project's turbines have a 6MW capacity and stand at 177m tall. The array will cover an area of approximately 75km². The project is scheduled to be fully commissioned by the summer of 2018 and with a capacity of 573.3MW it is anticipated to meet the energy demands of 400,000 UK homes.

For more information please follow the links provided. Alternatively click here to view our interactive map.

Premium

4C Offshore Premium, our most popular subscription, gives you full access to use the 4C Offshore WebApp which includes exclusive offshore wind, transmission and vessel reports, news and downloads.

Request a 30 minute Demo

Screaming flashing "scarecrow" reduces bird droppings

Back to News

Trending News!