Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

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identified. An expert assessment should aim to determine whether these characteristics are present at levels which may exceed recognised criteria. These guidelines propose criteria for assessing any such impacts. This should assist investigators where numerical assessment is considered appropriate to provide certainty in response to complaints. Recommended methods for assessing audible characteristics are provided in section B.4.4 B.2.2 Issues not addressed in the Guidelines Small wind turbines The sound characteristics of smaller turbines can be significantly different to large-scale turbines, as can the environment in which they are installed which can often be urban. This Appendix considers noise emission from turbines as defined in Section 1.31.6. Small wind turbine noise emission is beyond the scope of these Guidelines. Ground-borne vibration Ground-borne vibration from wind turbines is not likely to be perceptible to humans outside the wind farm site boundary and so has not been specifically addressed in these Guidelines. Such vibration may require consideration if the proposed wind farm site is to be located near to any existing high-sensitivity monitoring equipment such as seismic arrays. 6 Noise from sources other than wind turbines These Guidelines address noise emission from wind turbines as they exhibit a unique characteristic that the noise emission generally increases with increasing wind speed. There are likely to be a number of other sources of noise emission, from a wind farm, that do not exhibit this characteristic. That is, as with most sound sources, the noise emission from the source will not vary significantly with changing meteorological conditions (although the propagation of such sound may of course change in different conditions). Common examples include transformers and other equipment associated with connection of the wind farm to the primary electricity grid. As the noise emission from such sources does not normally vary with wind speed there is no reason why conventional noise emission assessment methods should not be used to evaluate their impact on wind farm neighbours. All noise sources associated with the wind farm operation (e.g. substations, switch yards) should be taken into account. Such sources of noise are also subject to existing regulation and, as such, are not addressed within these Guidelines. B.2.3 Related documents and standards AS4959–2010 Australian Standard AS4959–2010 provides detailed recommendations on the following issues: • Guide to form of acceptable noise level limits • Noise emission prediction procedures • Background noise level monitoring • Post-construction noise monitoring • Documentation (regarding the above items). 6 Style, P., Stimpson, I., Toon, S., England, R., and Wright,m. (2005) Microseismic and Infrasound Monitoring of Low Frequency Noise and Vibrations from Windfarms. Recommendations on the Siting of Windfarms in the Vicinity of Eskdalemuir, Scotland. Report by the Applied and Environmental Geophysics Research Group, Keele University. Accessed at http://www.esci.keele.ac.uk/geophysics/dunlaw/Final_Report.pdf. Page 40 Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010
The Standard should form the basis for any wind farm noise impact assessment. This Appendix complements AS4959–2010 through provision of advice on issues which are outside of its scope but which are still pertinent to wind farm noise emission. Also, a select number of comments are provided where it is considered that the approach to an issue in AS4959–2010 requires further explanation or additional assessment work. Other documents A number of other documents are referenced in this Appendix relating to specific areas of assessment. These are detailed in Table B-1. Table B-1 Additional reference documents Document reference AS 1055.1:1997 DIN 45680:1997 IEC 61400- 11:2006 WHO guidelines Document Australian Standard 1055.1: 1997 Acoustics – Description and measurement of environmental noise Part 1: General Procedures. Deutsches Institut für Normung 1997, Measurement and evaluation of low-frequency environmental noise, DIN 45680, Deutsches Institut für Normung, Berlin, Germany. International Electrotechnical Commission (2006) Wind turbine generator systems – Part 11: Acoustic noise measurement techniques, IEC 61400-11 2006. International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva, Switzerland. Berglund, B., Lindvall, T. & Schwela, D. (Eds), 2000, Guidelines for community noise, World Health Organisation, viewed 22 June 2009, http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/1999/a68672.pdf. Task methodology reference Page 49 Page 59 Pages 44, 49 and 58 Page 66 B.3 Overview of the Methodology A noise impact assessment for a proposed wind farm development should include the following key features: • Determination of assessment criteria including noise level limits and, as required, assessment of noise characteristics. • Prediction of wind farm noise emission using a suitable prediction method. • Consultation with the community to provide clarity regarding the steps involved in the noise impact assessment, how wind farm noise emission is managed and what outcomes can be expected from the assessment. These key issues appear several times throughout the course of noise impact assessment of a wind farm development, as outlined in the phases and methodologies which are discussed in the following section. To avoid repetition, methods for community and stakeholder consultation are provided in Appendix A. Appendix B focuses on providing guidance on what noise-related information should be provided or made available throughout the development process. Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010 Page 41
Page 1: EPHC National Wind Farm Development
Page 5: Acknowledgements These Guidelines h
Page 8 and 9: A.6.1 Site selection 28 A.6.2 Proje
Page 10 and 11: E.7 Technical discussion of key con
Page 12 and 13: The 20/20 target is challenging; ho
Page 14 and 15: Table 1-1 Elements of a ‘wind far
Page 16 and 17: 2 Principles for responsible wind f
Page 18 and 19: 3 Wind Farm Specific Issues The spe
Page 20 and 21: Specific noise limits are not provi
Page 22 and 23: 3.5 Shadow flicker The issue Shadow
Page 24 and 25: Guidance notes Heritage issues are
Page 26 and 27: Table 4-1 Typical decision process
Page 28 and 29: The studies and community consultat
Page 31 and 32: A Community and Stakeholder Consult
Page 33 and 34: • Responsive There is a comm
Page 35 and 36: Figure A-1 IAP2 Public Participatio
Page 37 and 38: Specific components which should be
Page 39 and 40: Figure A-2 Example of Good Practice
Page 41 and 42: Recording the occurrence and outcom
Page 43 and 44: A.6.6 Decommissioning Planning & Co
Page 45 and 46: Potential Stakeholders Consultation
Page 47 and 48: B Noise B.1 Introduction This Appen
Page 49: the converse. These Guidelines reco
Page 53 and 54: Stage and methodology Construction
Page 55 and 56: Other noise-sensitive uses such as
Page 57 and 58: Table B-2 Existing state and territ
Page 59 and 60: Establish background noise monitori
Page 61 and 62: As noted in Section 6.3.1 of AS4959
Page 63 and 64: predicted levels are significantly
Page 65 and 66: Prepare expert evidence (as require
Page 67 and 68: Undertake unattended monitoring to
Page 69 and 70: assessment of wind farm noise emiss
Page 71 and 72: B.4.5 Decommissioning Noise-related
Page 73 and 74: If a significant amount of time has
Page 75 and 76: B.7 Technical discussion of key con
Page 77 and 78: The HGC Engineering report 10 also
Page 79 and 80: C Landscape C.1 Introduction This A
Page 81 and 82: • Cumulative impacts “Cumulativ
Page 83 and 84: C.2 Overview of Methodologies Figur
Page 85 and 86: C.3 Task Methodologies C.3.1 Projec
Page 87 and 88: • State Relevant State herita
Page 89 and 90: The preliminary landscape character
Page 91 and 92: • Identifying and describing (in
Page 93 and 94: Advanced photomontages should also
Page 95 and 96: C.4.2 Visual Impact Assessment The
Page 97 and 98: C.4.2.4 Assessment of cumulative im
Page 99 and 100: the implementation of agreed change
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Figure C-2 IBRA mapping of Australi
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Table C-4 Mapping of landscape char
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C.7.2 Levels of significance What a
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Consider ‘Supporting Evidence’
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information available for other sit
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Figure C-4 Example of viewshed mapp
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Figure C-6 Example of photomontages
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communicate broad-scale ideas and p
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Table C-5 Mapping other wind farms
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C.7.9 Glossary & acronyms Australia
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Viewpoint The point from which a vi
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D.1.2 Underlying approach The under
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All of the above is generally appli
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the operational wind farm is aimed
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D.4 Task methodologies D.4.1 Site S
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area as it was not collected accord
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used throughout these Guidelines as
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wind farms. Such data from existing
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considered acceptable, undesirable,
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construction phase are identified d
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Searches for dead birds and bats ar
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D.5 Cumulative impacts D.5.1 Defini
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in the absence of any turbine colli
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that it was first observed. Where m
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e the case that assessment for bats
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Department of Primary Industries, W
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Percival, S.M. 2003, Birds and wind
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E Shadow Flicker E.1 Introduction T
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• The use of recreational facilit
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• The method is inherently linked
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Table E-1 Recommended exposure limi
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E.4.4 Construction Assessment of th
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E.7 Technical discussion of key con
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Figure E-4 Variation in shading wit
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common practice varies between one
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as the actual limit, rather than th
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likely to be obstructed. Radiocommu
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Licensed radiocommunications servic
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Figure F-1 EMI mitigation methodolo
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F.4 Task methodologies F.4.1 Projec
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Expected timeframe for evaluation r
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The near field zone can be calculat
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Develop mitigation strategy As a st
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aseline RF survey which involves th
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G Wind Farm Development Process G.1
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Project Sub-stages Activities to be
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Preliminary Technical Studies Issue
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Planning application (PA2) The plan
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Develop mitigation strategy Finalis
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Environmental Management Plans Issu
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Monitoring: confirmation (O3) Confi
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Decommissioning (D2) Once a decisio
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Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

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