18 Bats Found Dead at Liepāja Wind Farm as Agency Orders Turbines Halted
Latvia's Nature Conservation Agency has ordered the company Rapsoil to stop its wind turbines in Liepāja after 18 protected bats were found dead within two weeks. The company has kept operating, received a €1,000 fine, and plans to appeal.
Eighteen dead bats of a specially protected species were found within two weeks at a wind farm operated by Rapsoil in Liepāja, Latvia — twice the permitted number. The TV3 programme "Nekā personīga" reported this on Sunday. The Nature Conservation Agency (DAP), the state body overseeing nature protection, ordered the company to halt the turbines and draw up a plan to reduce bat deaths. The company kept the turbines running and was fined €1,000.
What happened
The wind farm lies between the sea and the Tosmare nature reserve, close to Liepāja's centre. After lengthy discussions the planned number of turbines was reduced, and they began running in test mode this summer. The company had to monitor bats and stop the turbines if more than two dead bats were found at any one of them. In late August, when the turbines had been operating for slightly over a month, 18 dead bats were found.
Gita Strode, director of DAP's Nature Protection Department, said the company was required to limit night-time operation and submit data proving compliance. No data arrived, so on 11 September DAP ordered the turbines stopped entirely until a bat protection plan is submitted. On the morning of 30 September, the programme confirmed the turbines were still turning.
Certified bat expert Renāte Kaupuža explained that the turbines stand perpendicular to one of Latvia's main bat migration corridors, and the gap between the blades and the ground is small — exactly the height where bats concentrate. Strode added that the area is a favoured feeding ground, while bats hibernate in nearby old bunkers.
Company and agency positions
Rapsoil confirmed that dead bats were found but said it had introduced restrictions: until 30 September, when active migration ends, turbines were stopped at night when the temperature was below ten degrees and wind speed did not exceed six metres per second. The company says checks on 22, 23 and 30 September found no more dead bats. DAP stresses it never approved these restrictions and that no operating data has been submitted, so their effectiveness cannot be verified.
The fine is the maximum possible for such a violation. Strode admitted it is very small, since delays cost the company more. Rapsoil denies breaking the rules and promises to appeal. DAP could also demand compensation for environmental damage; for ten dead bats it could reach €39,000, but the calculation is unclear because the farm is still in test mode. DAP suspects the true toll is higher, as animals can only be counted at the turbine sites.
Gaps in the rules could be closed by new wind farm oversight regulations, which the Ministry of Climate and Energy has been drafting for over a year. Adoption is delayed because several hundred objections were received in the latest round of consultation.
About the company
Rapsoil plans to run 12 turbines with a combined capacity of 57.6 megawatts. Tower height is 82.5 metres, nearly 150 metres including blades. Last year its turnover was €30,508 and its losses €527,089. Founded in 2002, it is owned by the Lithuanian company Enervia.
