Since the beginning of 2023, residents of the municipalities along the A16 highway can use an app to see how much noise and shadow flicker can be expected from the wind farms in the area and how much electricity is generated. It is also possible to share experiences. This provides control for local residents and important insights for developers. These benefits are also noted elsewhere.
Origin of the app
It is known that people are more likely to experience noise nuisance from wind turbines than from road traffic. Even at the same noise level. One of the reasons for this is the unpredictability of wind turbine noise due to variations in the wind compared to monotonous road noise.
What would happen if the sound of wind turbines could become more predictable?
That's what they asked themselves at design and consultancy firm Arcadis . With the aim of offering a solution to this, 'noiseforecast.app' was developed: an interactive app that provides local residents with a hyper-local weather report for the noise and shadow of wind turbines. With this app, local residents can also report their personal experience at any time of the day and see how much electricity is generated.
Since the pilot phase of the app in 2017, various insights have emerged. For example, in an earlier project in which the app was used, it turned out that people living near a wind farm next to a highway were hardly bothered by wind turbine noise, because the noise from the highway was stronger. This created a positive attitude towards wind turbines.
In another project where nuisance was experienced, the app feedback from local residents helped to determine under what circumstances the nuisance occurred. This made targeted research into solutions possible and continuous monitoring via the app showed that the situation had improved.
According to Erik Koppen, Senior Consultant Noise Control and Wind Energy at Arcadis, the app contributes to mutual trust:
“Because 'wind turbine neighbors' can easily communicate how they experience the noise, they feel taken seriously and more involved. And we see in practice that through the feedback, developers/operators can learn a lot from local residents about the actual impact and the circumstances under which nuisance occurs."
Koppen sees that, apart of the wind speed, the wind direction plays an important role in many cases. Sometimes in relation to the wind turbines, but more often in relation to the dominant, as for example, an existing highway. The time of day matters as well. However, the exact circumstances under which nuisance occurs differ per wind farm and surroundings and can be clearly visualized with the app.
A16
The app is currently being used along the A16 highway in West Brabant. There, 26 wind turbines from 7 wind farms and 1 separate turbine generate clean energy. The wind farms work closely with the surrounding municipalities and the Province of North Brabant, united under the name: Energie A16.
The Energy A16 area is divided into three clusters in the app: north, center and south:
- North : Klaverspoor wind farm and Streepland wind farm.
- Middle : Zonzeel wind farm and Nieuwveer wind farm.
- South: Galder wind farm, Hazeldonk-Oost wind farm, Hazeldonk-West wind farm and Waaijenberg windmill.
Overview
The Province of North Brabant, in collaboration with the West Brabant region, made an overview of feedback in figures. A summary of this follows below.
A total of 723 residents used the app in 2023. After a peak of 400 in March, usage declined to 100 in December.
Cluster north (Moerdijk and surroundings) submitted the fewest reports for sound, cluster south (Hazeldonk-West, Galder and Waaijenberg) the most. This is striking, because the center of the cluster has approximately five times as many residents living within a distance of 2.1 kilometers.
Sound
Residents provided feedback on noise a total of 291 times, from 47 different locations. Of this feedback, 250 reports scored 4 or higher (1 is no nuisance, 7 is a lot of nuisance). Residents therefore experienced (much) inconvenience due to these reports.
Most reports come from locations 500 to 1000 meters away from the wind turbines. The word 'humming' is often mentioned. For example described as: 'an irritating hum', 'annoying hum' or 'buzzing sound'.
Noise is most often reported at the end of the evening and the beginning of the night. And relatively often at the end of the night and the beginning of the morning. Some residents reported in June that they experienced the sound as 'noisy' on a beautiful summer evening. This has to do with the fact that residents sit outside more often in the summer, so the sound of the windmills can be heard better.
It is also indicated that other sounds in the environment influence the experience. Particularly the highway and the high-speed line. A few people report that the traffic noise from the highway exceeds the noise from the wind turbines.
In the evening, some residents experience more noise pollution from the wind turbines, because the ambient noise from the A16 is less, often depending on the wind direction and/or wind speeds. Approximately 77% of the nuisance involved wind force 5 or more at turbine height.
Shadow flicker
Residents provided feedback on shadows flicker a total of 115 times. They did this from 24 different locations. (Cluster North: 10, Cluster Central: 81, Cluster South: 24.) Of these, 93 reports scored 4 or higher (1 is no nuisance, 5 is a lot of nuisance).
Despite the fact that the fewest reports about noise from residents came from the Central cluster, this cluster for shadow flicker actually gave the most reports: 71% of all notifications for shadow flicker.
Follow-up
The province uses the feedback to map the experience and thus gain more and more insight into how noise and shadows flickers from the Energie A16 wind turbines are experienced. In addition to the noiceforcast.app, the Environment Agency carries out noise measurements at 10 locations along the A16 to repeat previous measurements before the construction of the wind farms.
The wind turbines are not turned off when local residents experience nuisance. When the wind blows hard, a windmill makes more noise. If that would be more noise than the permit allows, the wind turbines will be 'pitched' and the rotor blades will be put into 'noise mode'. This means that they are placed at a more angle, so that the wind can pass through them better. This is done by the wind turbine manufacturer and ensures less noise. Less electricity is therefore produced.
If it becomes apparent that an excessive amount of inconvenience is being experienced by several people, the developers will discuss under what circumstances the inconvenience occurs and what can be done about it.
The app is now used by five wind farms:
- Wind farm Kattenberg-Reedijk in the municipalities of Oisterwijk and Oirschot, commissioned by RWE
- Wind farm N33/Eekerpolder in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, commissioned by RWE
- Wind farm Oude Maas in the municipality of Hoeksche Waard, commissioned by the municipalities of Barendrecht and Hoeksche Waard
- Energy A16 in the municipalities of Moerdijk, Drimmelen, Breda and Zundert, on behalf of the province of North Brabant and several developers
- Windplanblauw in the municipality of Dronten, commissioned by SwifterwinT.
A 6th wind farm will soon follow: the Karolinapolder Wind Farm in the municipality of Steenbergen, currently under construction. Here the app is used on behalf of RWE as part of the social preconditions agreed with the environment.
The Geluidsverwachting.nl app can be used by residents of the A16 until the end of 2024, and can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store.
Questions, suggestions and tips in this area are welcome via info@energiea16.nl or for more information visit www.energiea16.nl .
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