Local Wind Turbine Installation - Big Ones

rampantbunny

There are plans afoot to install wind turbines (x9) in my area. I'll be within 1km from the nearest.

A letter has been dropped in to each resident with some basic information and a webpage reference for more detailed info. Funnily enough, the webpage isn't all that detailed 🤔

But there's also a number to call for an ould chat if people prefer. One such chat was had by a neighbor of mine and he indicated the planned turbines were to be 200m tall. That's pretty big. Neighbor could be exaggerating of course. Could also be a case of the company telling people that the turbines were to be that size but then relenting and installing something around 180m - and thinking cynically, it would result in the company getting the size they actually wanted in the first place. I would have expected the size of the turbine to be one of the first things to detail on any information distributed to locals but...

I'm going to make a call to the company rep. Can anyone recommend what questions should be asked?

Personally, I'm not against the turbines. I don't mind the look of them. At 200m high there'd be a wow factor (and people would come from miles around to gaze 🙄). But the infrasound generated might be something to be concerned about.

wonski

I would ask how high are these going to be first.

200m seems very high.

10-10-20

Do you mind sharing the name of the scheme with us? We can see the types of towers from that, most likely.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058256246/local-wind-turbine-installation-big-ones

Are you sure they are 200 metres tall? Most are in the 125-150 metre range here. There are a lot of articles about a 200 million wind farm down around Rosslare and the only one after a quick check was a UK one that residents are not very keen on. http://www.scottishenergynews.com/plan-for-200m-high-wind-turbine-towers-by-french-nuclear-giant-drives-isle-of-lewis-residents-to-height-of-fury/

the_amazing_raisin

So first off, the whole infrasound thing hasn't been proven my any scientific methods, mostly bandied about by some pseudo science Discovery shows to explain why a bunch of Russian mountain climbers ran off naked into the night and froze to death

The old turbines did have some noise issues but they say a lot of these have been solved which improved blade design

The main issue you might have is flicker of light from the turbine blades, so I would take a look at the EIS as part of the planning application to see if there's anything about overshadowing or glare

As others mentioned, 200m seems pretty high for onshore turbines, more than likely they're somewhat smaller

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058256246/local-wind-turbine-installation-big-ones

Pub talk as usual.

Find the name of the project, the name of the company, then a name of a previous installation, go have a look

The company wont lie about the height, they know every man and his dog has the internet. A 30 second search would reveal that 200m is not correct so they would automatically lose face

The installation guidelines are all available on the web etc, noise limits etc as well

unkel

I'm a big fan of wind energy, it's the cheapest form of electricity generation, renewable and reasonably clean.

That said, I'm not the biggest fan of having onshore farms, they should be located offshore, where they can be built bigger, where the wind is better, where they can't possibly be a nuisance to people, where the "land" is owned by the state anyway. Where they can be built in very large "farms". Where each of them can produce 16MW (more in the future) - a few hundred of these is enough to provide 100% of Ireland's current electricity use (average over the year)

bullit_dodger

Like unkel - huge fan of wind esp when it's place 2-3 km offshore where they bother no one. However, the general trend in wind turbine over the last decade or so is for larger and large catchment area, as that ultimately increases the yield.

There are certain economies of scale at play where it's cheaper to build and install 10 x 12 Mw turbines than 20 x 6 Mw turbines.

Wind energy: turbines are getting taller, bigger, and more powerful - Vox

Wind Turbines: the Bigger, the Better | Department of Energy

That's not to say that the figure of 200m is correct, but it's not probably as unrealistic as it was a decade ago.

rampantbunny

OK. General consensus is that 200m probably isn't accurate. 170 to 180m was mentioned in a direct conversation with company rep before recent official contact with locals. At 1km from a house, I don't think it will matter much if they are 170 or 200m personally.

Thanks all for the comments. I've sent an email to the rep with 16 questions I could come up with. I'll post back with details.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119392673#Comment_119392673

brokenangel - not sure what you mean by pub talk. Post is coming across a bit dismissive.

Anyone mind posting a link to the installation guidelines referred to?