Turbines turned off

[dan_b]

A wind farm, in operation since 2013, has been ordered to be turned off permanently by a Judge over noise issues.

https://renews.biz/101041/judge-shuts-d ... bbet-hill/

[MikeNovack]

A wind farm, in operation since 2013, has been ordered to be turned off permanently by a Judge over noise issues.
https://renews.biz/101041/judge-shuts-d ... bbet-hill/

A news story like this about a court case often leaves much out.

My guess? Since the project presumably had permission to erect the turbines, and likely the abutter objected during that process, I suspect there was lying about expected noise level on the application. Possibly being ruled "intentional".

The "in operation since 2013" a bit misleading as it appears the abutters objected immediately and it has taken twelve years to get a final high court decision.

[dan_b]

They should have fitted these!

https://renews.biz/101031/featheredge-s ... ine-noise/

[AE-NMidlands]

They should have fitted these!
https://renews.biz/101031/featheredge-s ... ine-noise/

You should email the turbine owners suggesting it, maybe the court too, and ask for a finder's fee (or at least a generous expenses-paid site visit after it is fixed!) It's a shame if a source of renewable energy gets switched off because of an avoidable problem/complaint.
A

[Mart]

As it's only a 15MW wind farm I was wondering if it was using older, smaller WT's that are noisier. But sadly I see that the order is to switch off 3 of the 6 WT's, so they must be 2.5MW, which I think is pretty big for the UK, as our topography is a bit limiting.

That's a shame, I hope those particular WT's are unusually loud, and that newer ones are better, especially seeing Dan's link to new tricks for old dogs.

[MikeNovack]

That's a shame, I hope those particular WT's are unusually loud, and that newer ones are better, especially seeing Dan's link to new tricks for old dogs.

Unless your courts terribly different than ours in a case like this, I believe the absolute level of the noise not relevant IF IN THEIR PERMIT THAT LEVEL WAS CORRECTLY SPECIFIED. In other words, if they were allowed X Dbs, I can't see a judge overturning that permit (unless bribery, etc. was involved in the permit granting). BUT, if their permit was "you can build this device there putting out X Dbs of sound" and what they installed was putting out Y Dbs (say Y several times louder -- remember, 3 Dbs means twice) and that they KNEW and had been disregarding the plaintiff's complaints for twelve years, yeah, then I would expect a harsh ruling like this. Especially if the judge decided "diligence" (intentional -- reasoning "of course they will complain exceeding noise allowed by permit, but we can stall them in court much of the operating life of the turbine")

[Countrypaul]

As it's only a 15MW wind farm I was wondering if it was using older, smaller WT's that are noisier. But sadly I see that the order is to switch off 3 of the 6 WT's, so they must be 2.5MW, which I think is pretty big for the UK, as our topography is a bit limiting.

That's a shame, I hope those particular WT's are unusually loud, and that newer ones are better, especially seeing Dan's link to new tricks for old dogs.

Mart, I hope you realise that Ireland i not part of the UK.

[Mart]

As it's only a 15MW wind farm I was wondering if it was using older, smaller WT's that are noisier. But sadly I see that the order is to switch off 3 of the 6 WT's, so they must be 2.5MW, which I think is pretty big for the UK, as our topography is a bit limiting.

That's a shame, I hope those particular WT's are unusually loud, and that newer ones are better, especially seeing Dan's link to new tricks for old dogs.

Mart, I hope you realise that Ireland i not part of the UK.

Why doesn't anyone tell me these things? Throw me a bone guys, throw me a friggin bone.

PS - Whose this Keyser Soze guy, and what did he put in the box?

[MikeNovack]

Sorry if I came on strong. And I don't know how it works UK or Eire getting "building permission". Or what happens if you exceed that permission.

But because I sit on our town "energy committee" and so was at the presentation before the "building permission committee" (aka Zoning committee) when a local hydro facility proposing to build battery storage on their property did their preliminary permission request. I know what sorts of things go into that. INCLUDED was a "noise level at boundary of property". In other words, they were asking for a permit to build something that would do that.

In all cases, ask for and get you get a building permit to do X, but you instead build Y (exceeding X) you will be required to "take it down". Of course you can appeal in the courts, and courts move slowly. It might be up to an abuter to sue << courts will usually NOT allow a party with no skin in the game to bring a legal action -- called "standing" >>

[dan_b]

I think you’re right in your assessment of what happened here. It’s a shame the ultimate outcome is a loss of renewable generation but if you break the law then there must be consequences.

I wonder if the details of just how excessive the noise levels were vs what was permitted will ever come out.