Revised wind farm noise Standard provides greater certainty

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has welcomed the release of a revised New Zealand Standard on wind farm noise.

“As New Zealand’s wind resource gets developed, an updated Standard will provide more certainty for local authority planning and resource consent decision making on wind farms,” Energy Supply senior advisor Robert Harper said.

“The revised Standard is more robust than the previous Standard, which was written in 1998 prior to significant wind farm development in New Zealand.

“The new Standard provides wind farm developers, local authority decision makers and communities with clear, workable methods for predicting, measuring, and assessing sound from wind farms.

“It continues to recommend limits on sound from wind farms to help prevent communities from experiencing unreasonable noise and now includes provisions for high amenity areas.” EECA and the New Zealand Wind Energy Association (NZWEA) jointly funded the independent review of the Standard, (officially known as NZS 6808:2010 Acoustics – Wind Farm Noise).

The Standard review process was managed by Standards New Zealand. The review committee included engineering and scientific experts in acoustics, practitioners in planning, resource management and environmental health, wind farm industry representatives, and individuals who represented local authority and community interests. The review process included a two month period for public comment on the committee’s draft.

“EECA is pleased this Standard is now available to provide guidance for future wind farm resource consent and planning hearings in New Zealand. We will now work to inform local authorities of the Standard and the way it can help them address wind farm noise issues,” Robert Harper said.

ENDS

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