18 dead bats at Liepāja wind farm; operator keeps turbines running and gets maximum €1,000 fine

Latvia's Nature Conservation Agency (DAP) has fined the company Rapsoil €1,000 for ignoring an order to stop the turbines at its wind farm in Liepāja. Within two weeks, 18 dead specially protected bats were found there, twice the permitted number, TV3's programme "Nekā personīga" reported on Sunday. The fine is the maximum available for this type of violation, which highlights how weak oversight of wind farms currently is.

What happened

The wind farm lies between the sea and the Tosmare nature reserve, close to central Liepāja. After lengthy discussions the number of planned turbines was reduced, and this summer they began operating in test mode. The company had to monitor bats and was required to stop the turbines if more than two dead bats were found near any of them.

At the end of August, when the turbines had been running for slightly more than a month, 18 dead bats were found. Gita Strode, director of DAP's nature protection department, said the company had to limit night-time operation and submit data allowing compliance to be checked. No data arrived, so on 11 September DAP ordered the turbines stopped until a bat protection plan was submitted. On the morning of 30 September the programme saw the turbines still turning.

Conflicting accounts

Rapsoil confirmed that dead bats were found, but says that until 30 September, when active migration ends, turbines were halted at night when the temperature was below ten degrees and wind speed did not exceed six metres per second. The company says no dead bats were found during inspections on 22, 23 and 30 September. DAP stresses it did not approve these restrictions and that no operating data has been supplied.

Strode admitted the €1,000 penalty is laughably small, since stoppages cost the company more. DAP could also demand compensation for damage to nature; for ten dead bats it might reach €39,000, but the method of calculation is unclear because the farm is still in test mode. DAP believes the real toll may be higher, as bodies can only be counted on the turbine sites.

New wind farm supervision rules, which the Ministry of Climate and Energy has been drafting for over a year, could close the gaps. Their adoption is delayed because several hundred objections were received in the final round of consultation.

About the company

The park is planned to have 12 turbines with a combined capacity of 57.6 megawatts. Rapsoil is owned by the Lithuanian company Enervia; last year its turnover was €30,508 and its losses €527,089.