Abstract
Potential impacts from operational noise produced by wind turbines is a major issue during the project planning and permitting process, particularly for projects east of the Mississippi River in fairly populous areas. While still an issue farther west, more buffer space and lower population densities sometimes make noise less of a factor. In general, however, noise may be the principal obstacle, from an environmental impact standpoint, to the more rapid growth of this renewable energy source in the United States. Proposed projects are frequently opposed on noise concerns, if not outright fear, usually aroused by the highly biased misinformation found on numerous anti-wind websites. While significant noise problems have certainly been experienced at some newly operational projects, they are usually attributable to poor design (siting units too close to houses without any real awareness of the likely impact) or to unexpected mechanical noises, such as chattering yaw brakes or noisy ventilation fans. A common theme at sites with legitimate complaints is that no one - not the developer, their consultants or the regulatory authority – really understood the import and meaning of the sound levels predicted at adjacent homes in the EIS noise modeling. This paper seeks to address this lack of knowledge with suggested design goals and regulatory limits for new wind projects based on experience with the design of nearly 60 large wind projects and field testing at a number of completed installations where the apparent reaction of the community can be compared to model predictions and measurements at complainant’s homes.