A shared horizon
As the sun dips below the horizon at Infinity Power’s West Bakr wind farm, in Gulf of Suez Egypt, the desert shifts into motion.
Operational since 2021, the project consists of 96 turbines located 30km North of Ras Ghareb in Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate, a region globally renowned for having some of the highest and most consistent wind speeds in the world. With a capacity of 252 MW, the West Bakr wind farm saves around 550,000 tons of CO2 annually, making it a cornerstone of a sustainable future. Yet, just beyond the turbines, another kind of movement unfolds.
Positioned across six strategic vantage points and mobile surveillance routes, lies the team of Bird Watchers, tracking the skies in real time. This specialized group of observers play a critical role in safeguarding one of the world’s most important migration corridors, the Red Sea Flyway.
Each year, more than 260,000 birds pass through this route, including vulnerable species such as the Egyptian Vulture and the Steppe Eagle (WBWF -ESIA 2019 prepared by Environix consultancy). Through precision monitoring and coordinated action, the Bird Watchers help ensure that the path between continents remains safe, proving that renewable energy and biodiversity can move forward together.
The Seasonal Rhythm: Protecting the Flyway’s Peaks
The Red Sea Flyway follows a precise natural rhythm, one that requires an equally considered response on the ground. At West Bakr wind farm, this rhythm unfolds across two distinct migration seasons, shaping how monitoring and operations are planned and carried out.
The Spring Season (February–May): This is a period of high-velocity movement. This spring 2025, our teams recorded 3,393 observations totaling 217,781 birds across 26 different species. Crucially, 136,279 of these birds (over 62%) were recorded flying inside the wind farm perimeter.
During the peak phase of this period, from 15 March onwards, monitoring operations follow an extended daily window, beginning one hour after sunrise and continuing until one hour before sunset. This adjustment ensures continuous coverage throughout the most active hours of migration. Despite this high density, our targeted mitigation ensured that zero fatalities were recorded during the peak window from 15th of March to 30th April 2026.
The Autumn Season (August–November): This season brings a steadier pattern, with 1,739 observations of 51,879 birds throughout Autumn 2025. The concentration within the site was even higher during this period, with 40,359 birds (nearly 78% of the total) passing inside the wind farm perimeter. Again, our proactive monitoring resulted in zero fatalities during the first full month of the season.
Within both seasons, migration concentrates into peak periods, short, high-density windows where movement intensifies significantly. Species such as the Great White Pelican and the Steppe Eagle move in large numbers, requiring heightened operational attention and closer coordination between monitoring teams and turbine activity.
The Active Turbine Management Program
The work of the Bird Watchers is part of a broader operational framework designed to ensure that renewable energy generation remains closely aligned with the surrounding environment.
At the core of this approach is the Active Turbine Management Program (ATMP), a specialized environmental program to mitigate environmental risks, particularly migratory bird fatalities, at wind farms in Egypt's Gulf of Suez. This region sits along the Red Sea Flyway, a globally significant corridor connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, and one of the busiest routes for soaring birds anywhere in the world. The program focuses on reducing risks to biodiversity while harnessing wind energy, promoting a balance between renewable energy production and environmental conservation.
Rather than relying on static measures, the program is built around continuous observation and responsive action. It brings together three integrated components: real-time bird monitoring during daylight, shutdown on demand when flocks and individual birds approach risk zones, and ongoing assessment of outcomes in the field. Together, these elements allow operations to adjust dynamically, ensuring that protection measures are applied precisely, and only when needed.
Where Data Meets Human Judgment/ Shut Down on Demand (SOD)
Within this framework, real-time data becomes actionable through the presence and expertise of the Bird Watchers on the ground. From their positions across West Bakr wind farm, they track bird movement as it unfolds, observing flight paths, altitude, flock size, and direction.
This information is relayed instantly to the site coordinator, where it is assessed alongside operational data to inform immediate decisions on turbine activity. When required, turbines are temporarily paused as flocks/ individual birds pass through defined risk zones, before resuming normal operation.
This approach avoids broad, site-wide shutdowns. Instead, it enables targeted, short-duration interventions, balancing continuity of energy generation with a high level of environmental protection.
At its core, the system relies on both technology and human judgment. Real-time inputs provide the data, but it is the observers’ situational awareness and coordination that ensure each response reflects the conditions in the sky at that moment.
Strengthening Coverage During Peak Movement
As migration intensifies along the Red Sea Flyway, maintaining continuous visibility becomes essential. At West Bakr wind farm, this requires ensuring that real-time data is consistently supported by the appropriate level of human presence on the ground.
During peak periods, monitoring capacity is scaled to match the increased density and complexity of bird movement. At higher-risk vantage points, dual observer teams are deployed, enabling continuous, multi-angle tracking of approaching flocks and reducing the likelihood of blind spots.
Beyond the immediate site, observation efforts extend outward. By increasing the utilization of our vantage points to monitor areas well outside the West Bakr wind farm perimeter, the team tracks bird movement long before flocks reach the wind farm. This early warning provides valuable lead time, enabling the control room to implement earlier and more measured operational responses.
Taken together, these measures create a continuous field of awareness, where decisions are shaped not only by conditions within the site, but by movement approaching it across the broader flyway. This layered system strengthens alignment between operational activity and the natural dynamics of migration, particularly during peak periods when timing and precision are critical.
Strategic Precision: The Flexible Fixed Shutdown
To optimize both conservation and operational efficiency, we apply a Flexible Fixed Shutdown framework. This strategy allows us to focus specifically on high-risk turbines identified through our environmental assessments, rather than applying blanket measures across the entire site.
By basing implementation on real-time field data and expert coordinator oversight, we ensure that protection is targeted where it is needed most. This precision allows us to maintain a delicate balance, protecting the flyway while ensuring the consistent delivery of clean energy to the grid. It is a system that is as efficient as it is protective.
Extending Protection Beyond Daylight
During peak migration windows, particularly in periods where movement extends into the final hours of daylight, bird movement does not always conclude with daylight. Activity often continues into the final hours before nightfall, extending beyond standard monitoring timelines.
Maintaining coverage during these twilight hours ensures that late-moving flocks are accounted for, particularly during the most concentrated migration periods. This adjustment, while operationally simple, plays a critical role in closing gaps during high-risk windows.
Completing the Circle: Total Protection from Sky to Ground
Our commitment to the flyway extends beyond the reach of the turbine blades. Recognizing that migratory species are also vulnerable to localized threats on the ground, such as illegal hunting and trapping, we have integrated a comprehensive protective guardianship initiative into our operations.
Through the Illegal Falcon Trapping Initiative, we have deployed a specialized monitoring system, including four dedicated camera monitors, to continuously oversee the facility’s exterior and entry points. However, technology is only one part of the solution.
Under the guidance of our HSE Head, our security guards and site managers have undergone thorough induction training. They are now equipped with the specific skills needed to detect unusual activity and follow established procedures to prevent illegal falconers from camping near our perimeter. By addressing these ground-level risks, we ensure that West Bakr wind farm remains a true sanctuary for birds at every stage of their journey.
Building a Regional Legacy
The Bird Watchers represent more than an environmental monitoring team, they reflect a growing model of local expertise shaping how renewable energy projects operate within their ecosystems. At Infinity Power, this approach is anchored in a focused capacity-building framework designed to develop the next generation of environmental professionals across the Red Sea and Governorate.
Through structured apprenticeship opportunities for locals, alongside internship programs for engineers and recent graduates, Infinity Power’s West Bakr wind farm is evolving into a center for applied environmental practice. These initiatives are designed to move beyond theoretical learning, embedding participants directly within daily operations, where biodiversity awareness, technical precision, and real-time decision-making intersect.
Training spans species identification, HSE standards, and operational coordination, while also fostering a broader understanding of the Red Sea Flyway as a globally significant ecological corridor. At the same time, it builds cross-functional expertise, bridging engineering and environmental stewardship to prepare specialists for the complex realities of renewable energy operations.
This investment in human capital is a core part of how we operate. As this system continues to evolve, the experience at West Bakr wind farm reflects a broader approach, one where locally anchored expertise and real-time data work together at scale to support reliable energy generation while safeguarding the environment around it.