(Archive Article) Noisy Wind Turbines Attract Complaints

The following was gleaned from a New York Times article published October 5 or 6, 2010.  Although the New York Times is a left-leaning newspaper, its reporters are honest enough to report some of the drawbacks, as well as the advantages, of renewable energy.  That, together with figures of cost, generating capacity, etc. can lead to reasonable discussion of the pros and cons of locating a renewable power facility in a particular area.

I hope you enjoy this condensed version of the article.

Noisy Wind Turbines Attract Complaints

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

VINALHAVEN, Me. — Nearly all of the residents on this island in Penobscot Bay, celebrated the arrival of three giant wind turbines late last year. That was before they were turned on.

Now, a dozen or so neighbors living less than a mile from the $15 million wind facility here, say the industrial whoosh-and-whoop of the 123-foot blades is making life unbearable.

In Vinalhaven, an audio consultant hired by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection determined last month that the 4.5-megawatt facility was, at least on one evening in mid-July when Mr. Lindgren collected sound data, in excess of the state’s nighttime sound limits. The developer of the project, Fox Island Wind, has contested that finding, and negotiations with state regulators are continuing.

Maine, along with many other states, puts a general limit on nighttime noise at 45 decibels — roughly equivalent to the sound of a humming refrigerator. A normal conversation is in the range of 50 to 60 decibels.

In almost all cases, it is not mechanical noise arising from the central gear box or nacelle of a turbine that residents react to, but rather the sound of the blades, which in modern turbines are mammoth appendages well over 100 feet long, as they slice through the air.

Turbine noise can be controlled by reducing the rotational speed of the blades. But the turbines on Vinalhaven already operate that way after 7 p.m., and George Baker, the chief executive of Fox Island Wind — a for-profit arm of the island’s electricity co-operative — said that turning the turbines down came at an economic cost.

“The more we do that, the higher goes the price of electricity on the island,” he said.

A common refrain among homeowners grappling with sound issues, however, is that they were not accurately informed about the noise ahead of time.

Richard R. James, an acoustic expert hired by residents of Vinalhaven to help them quantify the noise problem, said there was a simpler solution: do not put the turbines so close to where people live.

“It would seem to be time for the wind utility developers to rethink their plans for duplicating these errors and to focus on locating wind turbines in areas where there is a large buffer zone of about a mile and one-quarter between the turbines and people’s homes,” said Mr. James, the principal consultant with E-Coustic Solutions, based in Michigan.

Vinalhaven’s wind farm enjoys support among most residents.

But that is cold comfort for residents living near the turbines.

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