Public consultation on new wind energy guidelines begins today

Details of the revisions proposed to the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines have been published, today, Wednesday.

Today also marks the start of the public consultation process on the revisions, and submissions are invited up to February 21 2014.

The announcement was made by the Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan TD, today, Wednesday.

The review is focusing on noise, distance and shadow flicker issues.

The revised noise and shadow flicker sections of the Wind Energy Development Guidelines being put out for public consultation today propose:

•             The setting of a more stringent absolute noise limit (day and night) of 40 decibels (dB) for future wind energy developments.  This limit is an outdoor limit, in general the reduction of noise levels between the outside of a dwelling and inside would be approximately 10 decibels.

•             A mandatory setback of 500 metres between a wind turbine and the nearest dwelling for amenity considerations.

•             a condition be attached to all future planning permissions for wind farms to ensure that there will be no shadow flicker at any dwelling  within 10 rotor diameters of a wind turbine. If shadow flicker does occur, the wind energy developer or operator will be required to take necessary measures, such as turbine shut down for the period necessary, to eliminate the shadow flicker.

The proposed revisions to the guidelines are available online at www.environ.ie in addition to information on making written submissions during the public consultation period.

Also available online are the findings of a study on wind turbine noise commissioned by the Department from Marshall Day Acoustics.

The finalised guidelines will be applicable to any wind farm developments in Ireland.