Adapting to and complying with the growing environmental legislation of the various Administrations is key to Endesa’s initiatives. The company therefore develops projects that allow it to respond to concerns in the different regions it operates in. The protection of birdlife, and the environment in general, are necessary to ensure the well being of today’s and future generations. In all the regions in which Endesa operates it is taking action aimed at protecting the local birdlife.
Video of the protection of birdlife
Photos of the protection of birdlife
ANDALUSIA
Endesa is co-financier of the LIFE+ Nature project entitled "Conservation and management of special protection areas for steppe birds in Andalusia “. This Project aims to help reduce the mortality rate of the steppe birds by increasing the availability of food, reducing the risk of death through colliding with electricity cables and increasing the nesting chances of the lesser kestrel and the ratchet.
As part of this initiative, Endesa has changed more than 6km of high voltage lines in the Doñana National Park, in areas where there is a high mortality risk through electrocution for various birds of prey, especially the emblematic Imperial Iberian Eagle (Aquila Adalberti) that only lives in the south west quadrant of the peninsula, and is classified as “in danger of extinction” by the National Catalogue of Endangered Species. Through this action, the risk of electrocution in that area is now zero.
Another project developed by Endesa, together with the University of Granada, is “Pylons for electricity, pylons for biodiversity”, which aims to help the recovery of endangered birds and other species by installing nesting boxes on the network's electricity pylons. Eleven pylons on the high-voltage line close to Mengíbar have been used to install 26 nesting boxes for lesser kestrels, 6 for common kestrels, 6 for white owls and 3 for bats. The Animal Biology Department at the University of Granada will carry out a scientific study to assess the suitability of the pylons for connecting colonies and creating bird-rearing areas.
ARAGON
The “Adaptation of the electric power lines in the SPA of Aragón” project is a collaboration between the Government of Aragón Environment Department, Endesa and Red Eléctrica de España, and is part of a LIFE Project (selected by the European Union as one of the top 5 LIFE projects). As part of this project 325 kilometres of overhead power lines have been changed in the three provinces of Aragon.
Among the various initiatives, 13,000 metres of overhead lines and 227 pylons around the Laguna de Gallocanta have been removed to help reduce the risk to birdlife. The old lines have been replaced by an new underground section of medium voltage lines 7,500 metres in length, and a new overhead line 4,500 metres long. Both initiatives aim to minimise the risk of interfering with the birds’ flight paths and nesting.
BALEARIC ISLANDS
The rapid growth in energy consumption in the Balearic Islands, the result of economic growth and urban development in the archipelago, has made the installation of a complicated transport and energy distribution network necessary.Overhead power lines, especially those of old design, present a potential collision and electrocution risk to birdlife. Nonetheless, there is a possibility of positive interaction between the power lines and birds as the lines can be of benefit to the birds (nesting, hosting, acting as a look out post, etc.)
The collaboration agreement signed between the Ministry of the Environment and Gesa-Endesa in 2004, obliged both parties to invest in modifying the lines to protect birds, especially in those areas where there are endangered species. Since the Project started, the parties have, between them, invested more than Euro 450,000 with more than 700 measures carried out.Follow-up studies, carried out by independent institutions, have provided very satisfactory results. In the case of Menorca follow-up studies undertaken by the Ornithological Society of Menorca (SOM) in the north of the island (122 sites) have shown a significant decrease in mortality rates, from 0.1% in 2007 to 0.02% in 2009.
CANARY ISLANDS
El Guirre is the Canary Island name for the common vulture (Neophron percnopterus). It has a wingspan of 1.65 metres, a height of 70 centimetres and weighs two kilos. The species is deemed to be “in danger of extinction” by the Canary Island Catalogue of Endangered Species.
Endesa undertook initiatives to protect the Guirre on the Island of Fuerteventura between 2004 and 2009. Firstly through investing Euro 250,000 in a LIFE-Nature European Project between 2004 and 2008, and then more recently through a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO-Birdlife), which was signed in 2008, in which it invested a further Euro 24,000, to monitor the corrective measures undertaken on high-voltage power lines.
The measures consisted of insulating supports and conductors to stop electrocutions, signage of conductors with two types of markers (spirals and strips of neoprene) to prevent collisions and the replacing of anti-vibration devices with other types of springs to prevent birds getting snagged.
This Project has served to lessen the likelihood of these birds becoming extinct in the Canary lslands. They became extinct in Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the 1980’s, and Fuerteventura is their last stronghold, where their number has grown from less than 150 to more than 200 today according to the latest census.
CATALONIA
Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) is a bird of prey that lives in Mediterranean areas. Because of their biological make up these birds are very sensitive to environmental changes, acting like an indicator for the state of the ecosystem.
The European population of Bonelli’s Eagle is estimated at between 920-1,100 breeding pairs , of which 80% are to be found in the Iberian Peninsula (BirdLife International 2004). Over the last decades their numbers have gone into serious decline and they are now considered an endangered species. The Red Book of Vertebrates classifies it a “in danger of extinction”.
Among the various factors that have led to its decline are the increase in deaths caused by collisions with power cables and hunting, as well as falling birth rates related to a decline in numbers of their basic prey due to changes in their habitats.
Since the 1980’s the “Conservation Biology Team” from the University of Barcelona has closely monitored the Catalan Bonelli's Eagle population, noting a steady worsening of the main demographic parameters of the species and it has arrived at the conclusion that it is not self-sustainable, that is to say, that without the introduction of birds from other colonies it could be extinct within a few years.
Under the current Project the Catalan population was monitored in 2010, to determine territorial occupation, their age, the number of fledglings in the territory and their physical condition. Furthermore, they have banded 37 chicks which will allow future analysis of recruitment patterns and natal dispersal, as well as survival rates and the causes of their death.
Thanks to this information it is possible to characterise the different areas and identify the main conservation problems affecting them. As a result of the information gathered over this and previous years, a study can be made of the impact of power lines on the viability of the population.