Our studies
Discover Sens Of Life's expert solutions at every stage of your renewable energy projects. From the initial impact assessment to post-installation monitoring, including construction monitoring supervision and ERC measures, we support you to ensure development in harmony with biodiversity. Click on the images below to learn more about each key phase of your project.
Our sectors
Because each environment has its own specificities and ecological challenges, Sens Of Life adapts its expertise to the nature of your projects. Whether at sea, on land, or in agricultural settings, our naturalist and technical teams work on renewable energy projects in diverse contexts.
Discover below the sectors in which we deploy our environmental monitoring solutions and naturalist studies, from the initial impact assessment to post-installation monitoring.
Offshore Wind
Environmental monitoring and expertise for offshore wind farms. Sens Of Life is involved from the impact assessment phases through to post-installation monitoring, integrating innovative solutions adapted to marine and coastal challenges.
Onshore Wind
Environmental monitoring and expertise for onshore wind farms. Sens Of Life is involved from the impact assessment phases through to post-installation monitoring, integrating innovative solutions adapted to ecological and landscape challenges.
Photovoltaic
Naturalist and environmental studies dedicated to ground-mounted photovoltaic plants. We ensure rigorous monitoring of wildlife and flora issues and ecological compatibilities for sustainable and responsible projects.
Agrivoltaics
Specific expertise for projects combining agricultural production and solar energy. Sens Of Life analyzes the impacts on crops, soils, and biodiversity to ensure a balanced integration that benefits both operators and the environment.
Project phases
Each renewable energy project follows a precise cycle, marked by key phases where environmental challenges must be identified, monitored, and taken into account to ensure responsible and sustainable development. Sens Of Life supports you at every step of this cycle by deploying studies and monitoring tailored to regulatory requirements and local ecological specificities.
Discover below the different phases we cover within your projects:
Initial impact assessment
or repowering
Sens Of Life supports you in conducting your initial assessments of natural environments for the development or repowering of your renewable energy projects (wind, photovoltaic, agrivoltaic). This pre-installation study aims to accurately identify the natural stakes on potential project sites and to refine the taxonomic knowledge of the studied area. All groups are studied: birds, bats, terrestrial mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, flora, and habitats.
Construction monitoring
Related to environmental control missions, Sens Of Life supports you in carrying out construction monitoring to meet the requirements of governmental authorities during the construction phase of your renewable energy projects (wind, photovoltaic, agrivoltaic), with the objective of preserving biodiversity as much as possible within the study areas.
Post-installation monitoring
National regulations require monitoring the impact of a classified ICPE installation on flying fauna (birds and bats) during the operational phase. This monitoring must take place during the first year and then be renewed every ten years. Unless additional requirements are set by a regional protocol and/or a prefectural decree, it consists of ground monitoring of bird and bat mortality and ultrasonic activity monitoring of bats at nacelle height. Thus, for the first part of the study, Sens Of Life carries out a minimum of 20 site visits between spring and autumn.
Each visit consists of meticulously inspecting the surroundings of the wind turbines following a rigorous protocol. The mortality cases found constitute the "raw mortality," which must be adjusted by three correction factors, due to
1. due to predation (that is, the probability that a carcass is not found because it has been taken by a predator);
2. due to search area bias (that is, the actual surfaces surveyed by our field officers, which vary depending on the land use under the wind turbines);
3. due to observer bias (that is, the probability that a field officer misses the presence of a carcass due to poor visibility in a particular land use area, for example).
At the end of the field season, the "estimated mortality" is calculated from the "raw mortality" adjusted by these three biases, thus reflecting the actual mortality as accurately as possible. The implementation of avoidance, reduction, and compensation measures (ERC) is recommended for wind farms presenting a significant impact on these two taxa, to allow healthy coexistence between renewable energy and biodiversity. For the second part of the study, Sens Of Life conducts ultrasonic activity monitoring of bats by installing a TrackBat® at nacelle height, which allows characterizing the bat species assemblage and its activity pattern according to date, time, wind speed, temperature, etc.
ERC measures monitoring
After characterizing the impacts of a project, the objectives of the ERCA sequence are to Avoid environmental damage from the project’s design stage, reflecting the project owner’s choices in developing a lower-impact project; to Reduce impacts that could not be sufficiently avoided during the design and operational phases; and to Compensate for the harmful consequences of a project that could neither be avoided nor sufficiently reduced. These measures can be supplemented by Accompanying measures.
This ERCA sequence applies to projects, plans, and programs subject to environmental assessment, as well as to projects subject to various procedures under the Environmental Code. Sens Of Life is able to provide its naturalist expertise to guide and support project owners in the development and implementation of the Avoid-Reduce-Compensate-Accompany approach.
Areas of expertise
Sens Of Life offers its naturalist expertise to ensure rigorous biodiversity monitoring on your project sites. Whether it concerns avifauna, bats, flora, or terrestrial fauna, our teams conduct detailed inventories and in-depth analyses to preserve ecosystems throughout the different phases of development and operation.
Migration
The main objective during this monitoring is to highlight the migratory importance of a site. Several fixed observation posts will be placed within the study area, often in open areas that extend far to ensure good visibility over several kilometers in the direction of migration. For birds making migratory stops (for rest or feeding), it is necessary to move within the study perimeter and its surroundings to highlight the site's "transit" nature. Species are sought and identified by sight, either with the naked eye, binoculars, or a spotting scope.
Diurnal Nesting Species
The main objective during this monitoring is to highlight the nesting potential of a site. At this time of year, the songs emitted by diurnal birds serve both to communicate with their mates for reproduction and to mark the boundaries of their breeding territory. We first use the IPA (Point Abundance Index) technique, conducting 10-minute listening points at dawn, evenly distributed across the study area. These species are searched for and identified by sight, either with the naked eye, binoculars, or by sound.
We then supplement this by monitoring diurnal nesting raptors and other large species (non-songbirds, which have a large hunting range and are often in flight). We look for nesting indicators such as courtship displays, mating, cases of carrying construction materials, transporting food, searching for nests, etc. These species are searched for and identified by sight, either with the naked eye, binoculars, or a spotting scope.
Nocturnal Nesting Species
The main objective during this monitoring is to highlight the nesting potential of a site. Two methods are combined and used simultaneously at each listening point: passive listening (especially for the Common Quail) and the playback method. The latter consists of broadcasting territorial calls of nocturnal raptors to solicit responses to these calls: playback for 30 seconds of a species' call, listen for two minutes, playback for a second species, etc. Listening points are conducted in the study area, from dusk until three hours after sunset.
Wintering Species
The main objective during this monitoring is to highlight the importance of a site as a wintering area. This relies on pedestrian surveys within the study area and observations from fixed points. The location of winter gatherings (raptor roosts, passerine flocks, wader or passerine feeding or resting areas), as well as any movements from roosts to feeding sites, are the focus of more targeted research within the study area.
Buzzard Nests
The main objective during this monitoring is to locate buzzard nests in cultivated fields, in order to protect them from destruction during the harvest period. The species are searched for and identified by sight, either with the naked eye, binoculars, or a spotting scope, and by sound (alarm calls), by two ornithologists in constant communication. Observations are made from fixed points with good visibility. As soon as a nest is suspected in a field, the two ornithologists triangulate its position and set up a protective cage in agreement with the farmer managing the field.
This study aims to highlight the absence or presence of bats on site, recording and identifying the species present at different altitudes throughout the year. The expertise in bat monitoring is designed to guide the developer towards the placement of the renewable energy project with minimal impact on bat populations, and to propose suitable mitigation measures tailored to the context of the potential installation zone (environment, species, type of activity).
Bat Roost Search:
These surveys aim to locate bat hibernation and breeding areas and identify the species present. Identifying habitats favorable to bats, such as linear structures (walls, buildings, hedges) or ecological corridors, helps guide the search for roosts.
Ground Acoustic Surveys:
We strategically survey bat activity by listening points throughout the bat activity season, conducting multiple surveys per season (parturition and migration periods). These analyses can be combined with active surveys, using the transect method, depending on the issues present at the project site.
Acoustic Studies at Height:
We are able to record bat ultrasonic activity at height (on measurement poles), continuously and without sampling, using our TrackBat® acquisition systems or other tools (SM3Bat, SM4Bat,...), to characterize the bat species community and their activity patterns based on date, time, wind speed, temperature, etc.
Transects carried out on foot within the study area enable a precise delineation of the different environments and a mapping of land use and natural habitats in the project area. Several reference frameworks can be used for habitat classification: Corine Biotopes, EUNIS, or HabRef. Habitat connectivity is also assessed.
In the specific case of wetlands — which would require a Water Law application file — their delineation is based on two criteria: the analysis of floristic species and soil surveys using core sampling. Sens Of Life may then rely on more specialized partners for the assessment of ecological functions.
Floristic inventories are carried out using the minimal area method, which ensures relevant sampling adapted to the surface area represented by each environment.
The floristic surveys conducted by Sens Of Life focus on higher plants. Identifying plant species throughout the seasons allows for the characterization of different vegetation formations or vegetation patches, and supports habitat identification. These assessments help establish levels of ecological significance based on the conservation value of the site, guiding project developers in shaping their plans through avoidance, reduction, and compensation measures (ERC).
The inventory efforts will be intensified on micro-habitats that favor the development of amphibians (water points, wetlands, etc.) and reptiles (wood piles, edges, rocky slabs, sunny slopes, etc.), complemented by the search for signs of presence (molts, eggs, etc.), listening to the calls of amphibians, and placing artificial shelters for reptiles. Identifications are primarily made based on visual detections and/or by capture if necessary.
The Odonates, Rhopaloceran Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, and Coleoptera are the main insect groups inventoried by the naturalist experts at Sens Of Life. The identification of these groups is done visually, either in flight or perched in the vegetation, or captured using a net if necessary.
The identification of terrestrial mammals on a site can be done through visual observation, using camera traps, by sound, and/or by observing traces (footprints, burrows, digs, food remains, droppings, etc.). These different methods are combined during terrestrial mammal inventories carried out by Sens Of Life.
