Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

Installation of an appropriate amplifier
• For analogue television:
Installation of a digital set-top box (and new antenna if required)
Installation of a digital TV transmitter for an affected area
• For analogue or digital television:
Installation of a digital TV translator for an affected area
Provision of satellite TV services
Finalise mitigation strategy
Through consultation with the affected parties in relation to the available mitigation
options, a mitigation strategy should be developed and documented. In preparing this
document a risk assessment of the mitigation strategy should be conducted to determine
whether there may be any unintended consequential effects, such as:
• Introducing any new EMI issues to existing telecommunications services.
• The cumulative effects of additional turbines, or additional wind farms.
• Cumulative effects of any mitigation methods.
• Any interaction with regard to other existing or proposed wind farms, or
telecommunications facilities, in the area.
For example, relocation of a radio path may impact on other telecommunications services
or other wind farms that have been approved for construction in the area.
Once the preferred options have been determined through consultation, it is
recommended that the mitigation strategy be documented, and agreed with the
affected parties. This document could then be included in the Planning Application.
F.4.3
Construction
Mitigation strategy implementation
If there has been a significant period of time between preparation of the mitigation
strategy and the commencement of construction, then it is recommended that a brief
review of the data collected is undertaken to determine whether any new services have
been introduced.
Any changes required as a result of the review should be made, and the mitigation
strategy implemented prior to construction.
Baseline testing
If baseline testing and post-construction monitoring have been recommended by the
mitigation strategy, it is first necessary to establish what the standard of the
telecommunications signal levels is, prior to construction. This is done as part of the baseline
testing by performing a baseline radio frequency (RF) survey.
Once the wind farm has been constructed it will then be necessary to perform the tests
again during post-construction monitoring, so that a comparison can be made between
results recorded before and after construction of the wind farm. If it is found that local
radio communications services have been adversely impacted by the presence of the
wind farm, then mitigating measures can be devised and implemented.
There are two methods by which a baseline RF survey can be performed — that is, a
sample baseline RF survey which involves the collection of qualitative and quantitative
data at discreet locations throughout the area under consideration, or a continuous
Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010 Page 179