Manual to monitor the impact of power transmission lines on biodiversity

The REN Biodiversity Chair has developed a manual establishing appropriate practices to monitor the impacts of power lines on bird life and assess the measures used to minimise them. 

This document is the result of five years of work by researchers from CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, in partnership with the Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e Florestas (ICNF). It was funded by REN and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT).

This manual integrates the most recent scientific information compiled and developed by the REN Biodiversity Chair, along with other scientific knowledge (available) in this field. The content has been validated by ICNF and REN.

The document defines the guidelines for correctly assessing the impacts of very high voltage power lines on avifauna, in the post-evaluation phase, as well as the effectiveness of the respective mitigation measures, the most common ones being the signalling cables with collision avoidance devices. The document also defines the general standards for the implementation of compensatory measures in situations where the impacts are not minimizable.

The manual can be downloaded here or accessed on the REN Biodiversity Chair website.