The IdentiFlight Technology: Protecting Sensitive Bird Species from Wind Turbine Collisions

Presentations are Wednesdays at 6pm at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale, CO, and Thursdays at 6pm at ACES at Hallam Lake, in Aspen, CO.

About the Presentation

IdentiFlight International was created to facilitate the development and operation of the wind energy business by promoting the successful coexistence of avian wildlife and wind energy. IdentiFlight can lessen the pressures upon wind farm developers and operators by providing a sophisticated tool to detect protected avian species, and also provide operators with an effective means to protect select species from collision with rotating wind turbine blades. The IdentiFlight Mission is to further growth of renewable energy by minimizing wildlife impacts while maximizing energy production. By empowering wind farm operators with highly targeted, informed, and objective curtailment decisions, unnecessary and costly interruptions are avoided and conservation of protected species is achieved.

About the Speakers

Carlos Jorquera founded Boulder Imaging 27 years ago with the goal of merging high-performance imaging technologies with artificial intelligence to be able to mimic human perception and solve complex engineering problems in industry and scientific research. Applications for this technology include high-speed inspection for high-volume products, such as currency and architectural materials, and most recently, the IdentiFlight system for protecting sensitive bird species in windfarms. Carlos was born in Chile, studied physics and electrical engineering at MIT, and began his career designing remote-sensing instruments for multiple spacecrafts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Susan Downey is a founding member and has contributed to Boulder Imaging in many roles throughout the last 27 years, but none have combined her love for nature, birds, and technology as well as her current role in teaching IdentiFlight to become an expert birder. Susan is a Colorado native, studied physics at the University of Colorado, and began her career working for NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Learn more about the Naturalist Nights series and upcoming speakers here.

*Registration for Wednesday night’s lecture in Carbondale can be found at wildernessworkshop.org.

With questions or comments about this program, please contact Phebe Meyers, ACES Community Programs Director, at pmeyers@aspennature.org or call 970.925.5756.

Photo credit: Identiflight