Director of the Windfarm Lički Medvjed at the round table of the Biom Association

Jeroen Boerkamps, director of the Windfarm Lički medvjed, participated in the round table entitled ‘Prioritizing Nature-safe Renewable Energy Infrastructure’, organized by the association Biom, held on April 8 at the House of Europe in Zagreb.

Energy transition and nature conservation

How to build an energy infrastructure that will not harm nature and whether nature conservation and energy transition can go hand in hand are questions discussed at the round table by experts in the field of nature conservation and the development of renewable energy sources.

Advanced mitigation measures

- We want to reduce our impact on nature. That is why, when planning the wind farm, we significantly changed parts of the project and abandoned construction in areas where research revealed the presence of the golden eagle. Technology is constantly evolving, and there are many new and advanced techniques to mitigate impacts on bats and birds. We believe that with advanced measures, such as detecting birds with cameras and stopping the turbines when they pass, can be minimised the number of bird fatalities. We have already applied such a measure in one project in the Netherlands - said Jeroen Boerkamps, director of the Windfarm Lički medvjed.

Cooperation of stakeholders

At the meeting, the gathered experts emphasized that with the cooperation of stakeholders, it is possible to achieve ambitious EU goals, both in the field of nature conservation and in the field of renewable energy sources, but this requires good development planning and sensitivity mapping, involvement of all stakeholders, transparency and systematic data collection about the presence of sensitive and endangered species.