Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines - July 2010

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Figure B-2 Example of noise indices that may be used to measure a time-varying sound level L Amax Sound Pressure Level - dBA L Aeq L A90 L Amin B.7.2 Audible Characteristics Infrasound Along with low frequency noise, infrasound is an issue which has been raised in media articles which demonstrate concern about wind farm developments. It can also be raised as an issue by residents in the area of a proposed wind farm. Unfortunately much of the media coverage has been based on misunderstandings about infrasound, for example: • that “infrasound can be felt but not heard” – this is not correct. Infrasound can be audible at high levels, and can only cause body vibrations at very high levels • that “infrasound is harmful at any level” – this is not correct. Infrasound is naturally occurring in the environment, e.g. in ocean waves and wind, and harmful effects are only likely to be observed at extremely high levels A UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI UK) report notes that “Infrasound is noise at frequencies below the normal range of human hearing, i.e.
The HGC Engineering report 10 also comments that: While a great deal of discussion about infrasound in connection with wind turbine generators exists in the media there is no verifiable evidence for infrasound production by modern turbines. Also, NZS6808:2010 notes that: Although wind turbines may produce some sound at (ultrasound and infrasound) frequencies considered to be outside the normal range of human hearing these components will be well below the threshold of human perception. Several points are worth noting: • Human perception of sound energy in the infrasound frequency range is much less acute than in other frequency ranges. Significant energy is required to produce levels of infrasound which are high enough to be perceived by humans. • The audible modulating (swoosh – swoosh) sound of a wind turbine is not infrasound • While early ‘downwind’ turbines produced pressure pulses at about once per second, high enough to cause vibrations in lightweight buildings nearby, modern ‘upwind’ turbines produce infrasound pulses at low levels, well below the hearing threshold • There is no reliable evidence that infrasound at levels below the hearing threshold has an adverse effect on the body Leventhall 11 states that “Infrasound can be neglected in the assessment of noise of modern wind turbines”. As a result, these Guidelines do not require an assessment of infrasound from wind farm developments. However, guidance is provided below for situations where infrasound measurements are to be conducted. It should be noted that while infrasound is able to be measured, this requires specialised sound level monitoring equipment. DIN 45680:1997 Measurement and evaluation of low-frequency environmental noise is suggested for assessment of infrasound 12 . It should be noted that the assessment frequency range of DIN 45680:1997 extends down to 8Hz and so excludes some frequencies which are considered part of the infrasound range, below 8Hz. Low frequency noise Leventhall 13 states that “low frequency noise is defined as from about 10Hz to 200Hz”. Thus the frequency range for low frequency noise extends into the range of sounds that are readily audible as ‘rumbling’ sounds. It should be noted that the A-weighted noise level limits which are used to assess general noise emission from a wind farm generally include frequencies as low as about 50Hz. The A-weighting makes these lower frequencies relatively less influential in the A-weighted sound level but they are nonetheless accounted for to some degree. However, under some conditions, the A-weighted assessment will not be suitable, as the WHO Community noise guidelines state: 9 Ministry of the Environment (2007) Acoustic consulting report prepared for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment – Wind turbine facilities noise issues. Aiolos report number 4071/2180/AR155Rev3, Queens Printer for Ontario, Ontario. 10 HGC Engineering (2007) Wind turbines and sound: Review and best practice guidelines. CanWEA, Ottawa. 11 Leventhall, G., (2006) Infrasound from Wind Turbines – Fact, Fiction or Deception, Canadian Acoustics Vol. 34 No.2, pp 29-33 12 This assessment method is also suggested for the assessment of Low frequency noise as discussed in the following section. 13 Leventhall, G. (2004) Notes on low frequency noise from wind turbines with special reference to the Genesis Power Ltd proposal, near Waiuku NZ. Genesis Power/Hegley Acoustic Consultants, New Zealand. Draft National Wind Farm Development Guidelines – 2 July 2010 Page 67
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EPHC National Wind Farm Development
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Acknowledgements These Guidelines h
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A.6.1 Site selection 28 A.6.2 Proje
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E.7 Technical discussion of key con
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The 20/20 target is challenging; ho
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Table 1-1 Elements of a ‘wind far
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2 Principles for responsible wind f
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3 Wind Farm Specific Issues The spe
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Specific noise limits are not provi
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3.5 Shadow flicker The issue Shadow
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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 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: B.7 Technical discussion of key con
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’
Page 109 and 110: information available for other sit
Page 111 and 112: Figure C-4 Example of viewshed mapp
Page 113 and 114: Figure C-6 Example of photomontages
Page 115 and 116: communicate broad-scale ideas and p
Page 117 and 118: Table C-5 Mapping other wind farms
Page 119 and 120: C.7.9 Glossary & acronyms Australia
Page 121: Viewpoint The point from which a vi
Page 124 and 125: 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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