Wind farm visits to explore methods to save hoary bats

The federal-state Endangered Species Recovery Committee will visit two Big Island wind farms today and take public testimony on the owners’ plans to protect the Hawaiian hoary bat.

The six-member committee will visit the Pakini Nui Wind Farm at 11 a.m., meeting at the gated entrance of the facility at 93-1373 South Point Road. The public can meet the committee at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii in Kailua-Kona.

In the afternoon the committee will tour the Lalamilo Wind Farm in South Kohala. The public can meet the committee at 3 p.m. at the parking lot of the Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area.

Visitors should bring water and lunch and wear hiking boots or sneakers, the state said in its announcement. Sunscreen is also recommended.

Tawhiri Power LLC operates the Pakini Nui Wind Farm near South Point, with 14 turbines generating 21 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 18,000 homes.

Tawhiri has recorded the deaths of two Hawaiian hoary bats — one in 2013 and another earlier this year — from turbine strikes.

Hawaiian hoary bats roost in certain trees and eat night-flying insects, including moths, beetles, crickets, mosquitoes and termites, that are considered pests, according to scientists.

As part of its mitigation efforts, Tawhiri proposed lowering the blade speed to about 11 to 12 mph for 30-minute periods between 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., when the bats are most active.

Tawhiri has proposed a habitat conservation plan for the Hawaiian hoary bat and three other endangered species to comply with the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

When completed, the $13 million Lalamilo Wind Farm, a 3.3-megawatt project on 126 acres in South Kohala, will power eight wells for Hawaii County’s Department of Water Supply.

The company also said it will work with the National Park Service and help fund development of a bat habitat at the Kahuku Unit of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said population estimates for the Hawaiian hoary bat, based on limited information, range from the hundreds to the thousands. The number killed by turbines is also not precisely known.

The Endangered Species Recovery Committee, part of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, has recommended that a third party be involved in searching for carcasses of dead birds at the Tawhiri facility.

Ann Goody, director-curator of the private exotic-animal sanctuary Three Ring Ranch, said she feels the only time to search for hoary bats is at first light because otherwise mongooses will remove the carcasses from the area.

State wildlife official Emma Yuen said searches are done weekly and can be at any time.

For more information about the wind farm tours, call 223-0459.