Smart Curtailment AU 2025

How smart wind farm curtailment can save bats and optimise energy gains

Our EchoPITCH™ tool uses data from bat acoustics, weather, and wind turbines to focus curtailment on periods when it is most warranted.

Bats & Turbines 101

Pollination. Seed dispersal. Insect control. Bats provide critical ecological functions and billions in economic value. Although bats use echolocation to avoid obstacles and capture prey, they appear unable to avoid—and may even be attracted to—fast-moving turbine blades. Bat fatalities resulting from turbine collisions, especially those involving regionally protected and rare bats, can trigger regulatory requirements, such as nighttime shutdowns or blanket curtailments (the act of fully restricting wind turbine operations during periods of high risk to bats).

Get Started

500,000+ bats

In Victoria it’s estimated between 12,000 to 40,000 bats per year will die at wind farms.

Smart curtailment using EchoPITCH combines bat activity with seasonal and meteorological inputs to create a more defined set of curtailment parameters. This allows operators to customise the cut-in wind speed for their turbines.

Improving turbine efficiencies

Smart Curtailment

Blanket Curtailment

By tailoring curtailment strategies to local conditions and bat activity patterns, turbine operations can increase while achieving targeted reductions in risk to bats.

~33% more energy generation potential

By measuring bat passes and comparing windspeed and temperatures, our research and innovative technology reduces the need for expensive carcass monitoring and long stretches of turbine curtailment.

Why EchoPITCH

As bats become more active with season and wind variance, more accurate mapping allows operators to capture potential energy through smart curtailment—ensuring limited bat exposure.

Increasingly, wind farms are being required to implement curtailment to reduce bat risk. This is where EchoPITCH can help reduce bat mortality rates while maintaining power and revenue generation. EchoPITCH uses acoustic data recorded at turbine nacelles to identify the envelope of conditions (e.g., temperature and wind speeds) in which bats are active. Measuring seasonal and temporal variation during this activity, EchoPITCH focuses curtailment on periods when it is most warranted.

An image of a colony of bat silhouettes flying against a dark blue sky.

A Stantec wind farm client in North America, had the state wildlife agency, and our curtailment experts design an EchoPITCH alternative for a wind energy facility in New England. Using acoustic data collected previously at the site, this curtailment strategy was designed to better protect bats while reducing energy loss from curtailment by 4.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually.

Does EchoPITCH work?

Additional energy production from EchoPITCH is enough to power about 392 homes for a year.

Increase the overall operational efficiency of your windfarm. EchoPITCH can help you design, evaluate, and adaptively manage your curtailment strategy.

4.2 GWh

This portion of the chart indicates that bat passes occur at low amounts when temperatures are 15°C or lower, and 25°C or higher. Wind speeds show less impact, ranging similarly from 0 to 15 meters per second within these temperatures.

This portion of the chart indicates that bat passes occur at moderate amounts when temperatures are lower than and slightly above 20°C. Wind speeds show more impact, ranging from 0 to 5 meters per second within these temperatures.

This portion of the chart indicates that bat passes occur at high amounts when temperatures are around 20°C. Wind speeds are ranging from 0 to 4 meters per second within these temperatures showing ideal conditions for bat activity.

Windspeed (m/s)

Temperature (C)

2000

1500

1000

500

Pinpointing conditions with minimal bat activity allows turbines to operate more than would be possible with blanket curtailment while posing minimal risk to bats.

Isolating peak bat activity allows us to easily characterise segments of highest bat exposure, allowing operators to build strategic curtailment programs that capture potential generation opportunities.

Bat Pass

Smart Curtailment

This can lead to an average revenue loss between US$2,000 – $8,000 per turbine per year.

~33% of energy capture is lost

Implemented over a broad seasonal period, blanket curtailment helps reduce bat risk by increasing the cut-in wind speed from the standard 3 metres per second to 6.9 m/s—at which time the blades begin to rotate and generate power.

Learn More