Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

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Environmental Factors No. 8 – Environmental Noise, s3.2.2 (Draft, May 2007) Additionally the Western Australia government document Guidelines for wind farm development suggests set backs of at least 1kms. * Where minimum noise level limits have been established in a state or territory it has generally been in conjunction with a variation of the limit in periods of high background noise. The above minimum noise level limits cater for the night period as a worst case impact, and will by default protect the day period as well, since the turbines may operate at all times of the day. It is a further recommendation of these Guidelines that consideration be given to establishing minimum noise level limits for wind farms for two periods of the day: the Daytime period may be defined between 0700 hours and 2200 hours, and the Night-time period between 2200 hours and 0700 hours. The criteria for non-residential uses should only address the common hours of use for the location. For example, assessment of a medical care facility with stay-over patients should include assessment of night-time hours whereas a school would typically only be assessed for daytime hours. • Cumulative development Refer to Section B.5 for details • Stakeholders Wind farm developers commonly enter into contractual agreements with the owners of land suitable for a wind farm site prior to progressing any significant development activities such as noise studies. Such agreements may contain specific clauses related to agreed noise levels from the wind farm on the landowner’s property. Often such clauses can take the form of alternative noise criteria. If such agreements are likely, the relevant authority should be contacted to confirm whether alternative noise criteria are permissible at stakeholder properties. The Guidelines recommend that where stakeholders are involved in a proposed development and they agree to a relaxed set of noise level limits to apply at their property/properties, the minimum noise level limit may be increased by a suitable margin, for example 5dB. Minimum noise level limits of more than 45dB LAeq at a receiver are not considered suitable without provision for noise insulation of the dwelling and a suitable protected outdoor living area. In establishing stakeholder-specific noise level limits, it is important to clearly communicate the proposed changes in noise level to the stakeholder as well as any occupier of the property and to clearly explain the consequences of the relaxation and any potential effects on amenity at the receiver property. • Assessment of noise characteristics The relevant authority should be consulted to identify any specific requirements they may have for assessment of noise characteristics and any resulting penalties that may apply to assessed noise emission levels. It should be noted that some jurisdictions may include an adjustment for potential noise characteristics in the minimum noise level limit, while others may only apply an adjustment to the predicted or measured noise level. In the absence of any specific requirements from the relevant authority these Guidelines suggest that where predicted wind farm noise emission includes tonality, a penalty of 5dB should be added to the predicted noise level. The penalty should apply only at those wind speeds where tonality occurs. Page 48 Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010
Establish background noise monitoring requirements • Select relevant receivers Preliminary noise emission predictions should be used to identify ‘relevant receivers’; that is, those noise-sensitive receivers where the preliminary noise predictions indicate that the minimum noise level limit (including any adjustments for noise characteristics) may be exceeded. In order to establish noise criteria based on a ‘minimum noise level limit + background’ basis, background noise monitoring will be required at any receivers (or a receiver judged to be representative of a group of such receivers) identified as relevant receivers. If the preliminary predicted levels of wind farm noise emission are less than the minimum noise level limit (including any adjustments for noise characteristics) for the wind speed of maximum noise emission at each receiver, background noise monitoring will generally not be required as there is minimal risk that receivers will be adversely affected by wind farm noise emission. AS4959–2010 notes the following exception: However, if a location is particularly sheltered and wind-related background noise may be low even when wind speeds on the wind farm itself are high, measurements should still be taken. AS4959–2010 also notes that the assessment of background noise levels at the locations of future development may be of little benefit, as the noise environment is likely to change significantly should the development take place. AS4959–2010 further notes that: When considering a group of receivers it is acceptable to select as relevant the receiver that is likely to be representative of the worst case situation, e.g. a house that has very few likely sources of wind induced background noise that is located amongst a group of nearby houses. Further discussion of representative dwellings is provided in Section B.5.3. • Review historical wind data Section 6.3.1 of AS4959–2010 notes: The wind direction or wind directions which will result in the maximum noise impact from the WTG or wind farm at relevant receivers, seasonal variation in the occurrence of these wind directions and the likelihood of obtaining data with the wind from these directions should also be considered prior to the commencement of monitoring. Annual wind historical data should be reviewed to establish the range of wind speeds that are likely to occur at the wind farm site and that should therefore be represented in the monitored data. Wind direction data may also be similarly reviewed. In addition, a review of air stability conditions should be carried out. Where a significant trend for stable air is found to occur at the site (particularly during nighttime hours), this should be accounted for both in the data covered by the monitoring and also in the setting of noise level limits and the assessment of noise impact from the wind farm. Review requirements for wind monitoring data Subsequent phases of the assessment process require monitoring both of background noise levels and, potentially, post-construction noise levels of the operational wind farm. Although these future phases can be 12 months or more away, it is recommended that the proponent review these future requirements with regard to wind monitoring and ensure they can be achieved with the proposed wind monitoring strategy. Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010 Page 49
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EPHC National Wind Farm Development
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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 and 50: the converse. These Guidelines reco
Page 51 and 52: The Standard should form the basis
Page 53 and 54: Stage and methodology Construction
Page 55 and 56: Other noise-sensitive uses such as
Page 57: Table B-2 Existing state and territ
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
Page 101 and 102: Figure C-2 IBRA mapping of Australi
Page 103 and 104: Table C-4 Mapping of landscape char
Page 105 and 106: C.7.2 Levels of significance What a
Page 107 and 108: 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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