{"id":35661,"date":"2025-12-16T11:49:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/?p=35661"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:51:55","slug":"new-international-life-project-to-protect-globally-threatened-bird-species-by-making-power-distribution-networks-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/new-international-life-project-to-protect-globally-threatened-bird-species-by-making-power-distribution-networks-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"New International LIFE Project to Protect Globally Threatened Bird Species by Making Power Distribution Networks Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Photo: Dimitar Gradinarov\/BSPB<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Elektrorazpredelenie Yug EAD (EP Yug) (part of EVN Group), as the lead partner, in cooperation with the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), EVN Macedonia, the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES), and the Turkish environmental NGO DOGA, has developed an international project entitled <strong>\u201cReduction of mortality risk on globally endangered birds through retrofitting of hazardous overhead power lines in South-eastern Europe\u201d<\/strong><strong> (\u0415P for Birds LIFE)<\/strong> under the EU LIFE Programme. The partners will also collaborate with four electricity distribution companies from Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>The project\u2019s main objective is to contribute to the conservation of the globally threatened <strong>Eastern Imperial Eagle<\/strong> and <strong>Egyptian Vulture<\/strong> through the modernization and bird-safe upgrading of electricity distribution infrastructure in the participating countries. Project activities will be implemented in <strong>14 Natura 2000 protected sites in Bulgaria<\/strong> and <strong>48 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA\/KBA)<\/strong> in North Macedonia and Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Within the project framework, innovative technologies for grid insulation and state-of-the-art scientific monitoring approaches will be introduced. These will be shared with the international conservation community and replicated along the migratory routes of these two globally threatened species.<\/p>\n<p>Although the project focuses primarily on the Eastern Imperial Eagle and the Egyptian Vulture, its activities will benefit many other bird species \u2014 in practice, all birds that breed, migrate, or winter within the project areas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Activities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Within the project <strong>\u201c\u0415P for Birds LIFE\u201d<\/strong>, EP Yug will implement the following activities in its licensed territory in southeastern Bulgaria:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Insulation and bird-safe upgrading of <strong>8,700 electricity poles<\/strong>. The use of special insulating materials allows birds to perch safely on power poles.<\/li>\n<li>Installation of <strong>1,500 bird flight diverters<\/strong> on overhead power lines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In <strong>North Macedonia<\/strong>, project activities include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Insulation of <strong>3,000 electricity poles<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Installation of <strong>1,000 bird flight diverters<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In <strong>Turkey<\/strong>, the project plans:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Insulation of <strong>5,000 electricity poles<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All grid safety measures will be carried out in key areas for bird breeding, migration, and wintering. In Bulgaria, the project area covers <strong>100% of the distribution range of the Eastern Imperial Eagle<\/strong> and <strong>90% of the range of the Egyptian Vulture<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, <strong>four professional drones<\/strong> will be purchased \u2014 three for diverter installation and one for GIS field surveys and data analysis using specialized software. Specialized equipment will also be procured, including <strong>two aerial work platforms<\/strong> for network operations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Duration and Funding<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Project activities are planned over <strong>five years (2025\u20132030)<\/strong>. During this period, EP Yug will work to protect biodiversity in Bulgaria, Turkey, and North Macedonia by implementing innovative technical solutions with long-term impact.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission approved <strong>the highest possible co-financing rate \u2014 75%<\/strong>. The total project budget exceeds <strong>\u20ac11.3 million<\/strong>, of which nearly <strong>\u20ac8.5 million<\/strong> will be provided by the European Commission. The remaining funds will be covered by the project partners, with <strong>EP Yug contributing nearly \u20ac2 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>EVN Bulgaria South\u2019s Third LIFE Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSafe Grid for Birds in Southeast Europe\u201d is the <strong>third LIFE project<\/strong> implemented by EP Yug.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2021, the company has been implementing the <strong>\u201cLIFE Safe Grid for Burgas\u201d<\/strong> project, aimed at making the electricity grid bird-safe in the Burgas Lakes region \u2014 part of the major bird migration corridor <strong>Via Pontica<\/strong>. So far, more than <strong>1,750 poles have been insulated<\/strong>, <strong>400 diverters installed<\/strong>, and <strong>7 km of overhead lines buried underground<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2013 and 2018, EP Yug implemented the project <strong>\u201cLIFE for Safe Grid\u201d<\/strong>, the first LIFE project in Bulgaria led by an infrastructure company. In 2020, the European Commission nominated it for the <strong>\u201cBest LIFE Nature Award\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>These initiatives demonstrate <strong>EVN Bulgaria\u2019s strong commitment to sustainable operations, environmental protection, and modernization of energy infrastructure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project No. 101216021 \u2013 LIFE24-NAT-BG-EP for Birds LIFE<\/strong> is funded by the <strong>EU LIFE Programme<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Dimitar Gradinarov\/BSPB Elektrorazpredelenie Yug EAD (EP Yug) (part of EVN Group), as the lead partner, in cooperation with the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), EVN Macedonia, the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES), and the Turkish environmental NGO DOGA, has developed an international project entitled \u201cReduction of mortality risk on globally endangered birds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-35661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35661"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=35661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}