Saturday, January 14, 2012

Wind Turbine Mufflers

Mineral County wind farm owner seeks to reduce noise  - News - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -: "KEYSER, W.Va. -- The owner of a wind farm in Mineral County is working to reduce turbine noise after neighbors complained that they can't sleep. Edison Mission Energy has asked the turbine manufacturer to develop a turbine muffler system."

3 comments:

Marvin said...

There is a wind farm in our immediate future. Last I heard, construction was scheduled to begin in 2012. I have very mixed emotions -- some concerns, no doubt, motivated by a not-in-my-backyard syndrome other more legitimate. In Arkansas, as in many states, there are no regulations governing wind farms. The company can pretty much do (or not do) whatever it wants.

Rebecca Clayton said...

They've put up a bunch of turbines in Greenbrier County, a short distance south of here. I've not seen them close up, nor have I heard of any complaints. I believe they are not very close to any homes, although I'm not sure of that.

We're worried about Marcellus shale fracking and mountain top removal, which are more obviously damaging. A turbine installation north of here killed a flock of migratory birds, which were evidently lured in by the lights on a foggy evening. It's my understanding the lights were improperly operated.

I wonder how much wind energy is actually being generated in West Virginia.

Marvin said...

Fortunately, (from my POV) there's nothing in our hills that's worth removing. The Fayetteville shale is just to our south. Almost everyone, except the most hardcore industry spokespeople, has admitted that deep well injection of fracking waste was the cause of a spate of minor earthquakes. There have also been a lot of water well problems, but cause and effect between those and fracking is just about impossible to prove.

Because they are usually viewed from a distance, one thing that's deceptive about wind turbines is their huge size. I've seen them being transported. One turbine blade is a flatbed semi load and stretches the full length of the trailer. The set-back distance from a residence the company building the wind farm here has set for itself is only 1000 feet. That's one of the points of contention.