Tell us about your expertise in collision risk modeling and how it has been applied to major wind farm projects?

I have been involved with the Biosis Collision Risk Model (CRM) since 2020, when we completed Bird Utilisation Surveys (BUS) the New England Tablelands region of NSW. It was the first wind farm project I had been involved with and we ran the CRM as part of the biodiversity impact assessment. That project gave me my first experience in how to design and implement a BUS program, in fairly challenging terrain, and a base understanding of how the data collected during BUS feeds into the CRM to derive the total number of predicted bird collisions each year.

I don’t claim to be an on expert on the internal workings of the model itself works, however since 2020 I have been involved in using the Biosis CRM on at least eight other wind farm projects around NSW, which has allowed me gain a detailed understanding of the required inputs (bird utilisation data and turbine parameters), how best to design BUS programs to collect the required data, and the modelled outputs (predicted bird collisions across a range of different avoidance scenarios). The Biosis CRM is an invaluable tool that ensures biodiversity impact assessments for wind farm projects provide robust predictions around potential bird collision impacts and allows for a more accurate assessment of the project’s potential impacts as a whole.

What strategies do you find most effective when managing challenging or multifaceted ecological requirements?

My main strategies revolve around really doing the groundwork at the outset of a project. This starts at the initial planning phase whereby as many potential variables as possible are considered to ensure there is a strategy in place if things are to change or evolve down the track.

Ensuring a solid foundation from which to build is critical in long-term (12 to 24 month) biodiversity assessment projects, and that invariably starts with a solid vegetation map. When implementing the BAM, the vast majority of assessment requirements are directly related to the vegetation present on site, so making sure that the vegetation map is as accurate as possible, as early as possible in the project, allows you to better plan for future survey requirements, and map out the overall approach to the assessment.

Taking time to collect foundation data on vegetation and habitats from the outset of the project, and allowing time to analyse these data and plan out a survey program, is critical and the best way to minimise the potential for unexpected issues/requirements cropping up. These have the potential to impact upon project timelines and/or the robust nature of the assessment.

How do you see CRM evolving for future onshore and offshore projects?

The main area of evolution I can see is in the offshore space where BUS data is combined with digital aerial survey data; high-definition drone footage of birds flying through the study area. This combines new technologies including AI learning and more “analogue” data collected by observers by boat confirming species IDs, flight heights and other behaviour/flight characteristics. This combination of digital aerial surveys and boat-based BUS provide the best practice standard in CRM for the growing industry.

There are also a lot of exciting new technologies emerging (radar, telemetry, remote bat detection units, etc) to help better predict potential collisions, and also prevent them from occurring at operational projects. I am excited to see where some of these technologies can lead.

What opportunities do you see in the renewable energy sector in New Zealand and how might your expertise support this growth?

New Zealand has set ambitious renewable energy and emissions reductions targets, and a significant component of how these targets can be reached is through the increased use of wind energy, in both the onshore and offshore space.

Biosis’ key point of difference is our CRM, which, being based on empirical site-based BUS data, provides accurate predictions of numbers of bird collisions with operational turbine blades per year. Biosis’ CRM has recently been validated through a 2023 study on the performance of the model comparing forecasted and recorded collisions from Wedge-tailed Eagles and White-bellied Sea-Eagles at four operational wind farms across Victoria and Tasmania. It was fund that the Biosis CRM was accurate to within less than one Wedge‐tailed Eagle collision per annum and was more accurate for White‐bellied Sea‐eagles.

We have long-standing experience in the implementation of our CRM for onshore wind farm projects in Australia, and we are also gaining invaluable experience in the offshore market in Victoria, being involved in a number of projects now, including Australia’s first offshore wind farm project Star of the South. We would look to bring this experience to the New Zealand market and help to further the biodiversity impact assessment space for wind farm projects, allowing for better planning, assessment and mitigation outcomes, and ultimately leading to reduced impacts to biodiversity from the critical renewable energy sector.

You’ve worked on a number of stewardship and offset site projects, how do you ensure these initiatives deliver the best outcomes for clients?

The offset space is fairly varied with projects ranging from: securing offsets from the open credit market or facilitating payments to the Biodiversity Conservation Fund; establishing Biodiversity Stewardship Sites to generate offsets for a specific project; establishing sites for landholders with a genuine desire for biodiversity conservation and restoration; or assisting landowners who have identified a potential financial opportunity on land that would otherwise be constrained for development due to the presence of native vegetation and habitats.

It is key to understand the goals of the proponent (or landholder) to ensure the desired outcomes are met. For example, where a Biodiversity Stewardship Site is established to generate offsets for a specific project, there needs to be a strong focus on ensuring the selected property/ies meet the Like-for-Like requirements of the BAM. On the other hand, a landholder primarily concerned with conservation is more likely to be more focused on ensuring highly detailed management plan and robust associated costing is developed, and others might be focused on maximising credit generation and yield. Understanding the client’s goals and implementing strategies to best achieve them is critical to successful biodiversity offset projects.

What advice would you offer to ecologists who want to specialise in complex projects like wind farms or develop expertise in CRM?

There is no substitute for doing the work upfront to ensure that long-term projects, such as wind farm biodiversity impact assessment which generally include 24 months BUS feeding into CRM, are well planned out and delivered.

Make sure you take the time to develop the solid foundation of baseline data and then plan all future surveys following that groundwork. Make sure you ask for help from those around you, and don’t take on more than you can realistically accomplish.