Requirements for annual statement
Regulation 131F requires WEF operators to prepare an annual statement to document the performance of the WEF over the previous financial year and provide the statement to EPA within four months of the end of each financial year.
In accordance with regulation 131F, the annual statement must include:
- details of any complaints concerning wind turbine noise received by the operator and how the complaints were addressed
- evidence that turbine operating modes complied with any relevant requirements contained in the facility’s authorising document under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (for example, where turbines were curtailed, if that was required)
- details of any maintenance activities, including any unscheduled servicing events
- details of any noise remediation actions undertaken.
The annual statement must also demonstrate whether the wind turbine noise complied with the required noise limits or applicable alternative monitoring point criteria.
WEF operators should take a risk-based approach to selecting the most appropriate method to demonstrate compliance, based on their assessment of the risk of harm from noise emissions from the WEF to determine a proportionate response. For example, where the annual statement can demonstrate the WEF is operating with no material change to the conditions that existed when it was last tested (and supplemented by the five-yearly periodic monitoring and verification report) and maintenance was undertaken according to the manufacturer’s recommended schedule of maintenance, the WEF may not require additional measurement or analysis of onsite WEF sound levels to demonstrate compliant operation.
Methods to demonstrate compliance, depending on the level of risk, may include one or a combination of:
- desktop review
- report on the completion of scheduled maintenance procedures
- review of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) control system operational data
- measurements at a reference or alternative monitoring point
- nearfield noise measurements
- measurement at critical noise sensitive areas
- actions taken to address specific compliance issues if relevant, including curtailing noise emissions.
Factors for WEF operators to consider when deciding on the extent and type of information to be included in the annual statement include:
- margin of noise limit compliance established through noise assessments
- noise sensitive areas
- separation distances
- predictive noise levels
- history of complaints
- exceedance of noise limits during the period.
Five-yearly wind turbine noise monitoring
Regulation 131G requires a WEF operator to engage an acoustician to determine procedures and conduct monitoring to ensure that wind turbine noise from the facility complies with the noise limits or the applicable alternative monitoring point criteria every five years.
Under this regulation, on and from 1 January 2024 WEF operators will be required to:
- engage a suitably qualified and experienced acoustician:
- to determine the procedures to be used during the monitoring and assessment – this may include reviewing procedures used during previous monitoring and assessment events, or included in an NMP, and updating these procedures to account for changes to the environment or other factors over time
- to conduct monitoring to show that the facility continues to comply with the noise limits or the applicable alternative monitoring point criteria and prepare a monitoring report
- engage an environmental auditor to review the monitoring report
- give a copy of the monitoring report and auditor’s report to EPA.
Similar to the approach described for the annual statement, the procedures required for the five-yearly wind turbine noise monitoring should also adopt a response proportionate to the risk of harm from noise emissions.If the procedures determined by the acoustician when undertaking five-yearly wind turbine noise monitoring differ from those contained within the NMP, the procedures in the NMP should be updated accordingly.
Resources
AS 1055:2018 Acoustics – Description and measurement of environmental noise
AS/NZS 10002:2014 Guidelines for complaint management in organizations
Davy J, Burgemeister K and Hillman D 2018 Wind turbine sound limits: Current status and recommendations based on mitigating noise annoyance in Applied Acoustics 140, 288-295.
Davy J, Burgemeister K, Hillman D and Carlile S 2020 A review of the potential impacts of wind turbine noise in the Australian context in Acoustics Australia 48, 181-197.
Environment Protection Act 2017
Environment Protection Regulations 2021
Michaud D, Keith S, Feder K and Voicescu S, 2016, Personal and situational variables associated with wind turbine noise annoyance in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 139, 1455.
NZS 6808:1998 The Assessment and Measurement of Sound from Wind Turbine Generators, Standards New Zealand, 1998.
NZS 6808:2010 Acoustics – Wind farm noise, Standards New Zealand, 2010.
World Health Organization 2018 Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region
Updated