Orsted will help test and commercialise a new technology to collect more and better birdlife data at its wind farms around the world.
The new bird monitoring tool will ultimately support Orsted’s ambition to deliver net-positive biodiversity impact for all new projects from 2030.
Orsted and venture capital firms Nysnø Climate Investments, Wiski Capital, Norrsken Foundation, and Antler have invested in Spoor AI via a seed funding round.
Orsted will also enter into a partnership with Spoor to develop and commercialise its technology at the Danish developer’s offshore wind farms.
Spoor is a Norwegian “deeptech” start-up which has built a specially designed artificial intelligence (AI) system to monitor and track birdlife at offshore windfarms.
Rapid energy transition is a crucial piece of the puzzle in halting and reversing biodiversity loss, as climate change is increasingly one of its biggest causes.
But more new wind infrastructure means more interaction with the natural world, which climate action seeks to protect.
Orsted is looking for new ways to further improve its understanding of that interaction – to minimise potential negative impact alongside action to proactively enhance biodiversity, the developer said.
By working with Spoor, Orsted will continue to improve its understanding of how birds behave while travelling in the vicinity ofits wind farms.
With better understanding of bird behaviour, wind farm design can be further optimised in line with Orsted’s commitment to deliver renewable energy that has a net-positive biodiversity impact for all new energy projects commissioned from 2030.
It is notoriously challenging to monitor bird behaviour, which is why the offshore wind industry currently uses precautionary models to estimate possible collisions at wind farms when designing them.
Several recent studies, including ones supported by Orsted, suggest that actual collisions are significantly fewer than currently modelled.
The Spoor system can increase confidence in those predictions, thus increasing our knowledge base and helping us build robust statistical evidence in this field, Orsted said.
Orsted vice president and head of its global centre of environmental expertise Benjamin Sykes said: “As governments around the world ramp up ambitious plans to grow offshore wind energy capacity, and to curb climate change, it’s imperative that we continually improve our understanding of bird behaviour, so we can design and build wind farms that actively deliver net-positive biodiversity outcomes.
“Spoor’s technology will help us better understand how different species of birds behave at and around offshore wind farms.
“It’s also an exciting example of how agile, entrepreneurial companies can deliver high-impact innovation when supported with knowledge sharing and investment by key industry players.”
Spoor chief executive Ask Helseth said: “We’re delighted to receive this direct investment from Orsted, a renewable energy company with an industry-leading biodiversity ambition and the world’s largest offshore wind developer.
“It’s a clear signal of confidence in Spoor and the potential of our technology.
“This investment will accelerate the development of our software, its roll-out speed on existing wind farms, and enable new projects to include the highest standard of AI-based bird monitoring from day one.”