Noise Emission Assessment of a Utility-Scale Wind Power Plant: Case Study of a 90 MW Wind Power Plant in Mukdaharn Province, Northeastern Thailand -
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Abstract
The noise impact of wind power plants is one of the major reasons for social opposition to wind energy development. The complex noise model (ISO 9613) was employed to model the noise generated by 15 GW165-6.0 MW wind turbine generator units based on the manufacturer-defined acoustic profile. The wind resource at a hub height of the wind turbine generators (144 m agl) was first predicted based on computational fluid dynamics flow modeling. The model noise levels were mapped using ArcGIS and twenty-two receptors comprising houses, temples, and other places at varying distances within the project boundary. Likewise, to compare the noise levels of the wind turbine generators with different noise levels, the ambient noise was measured at selected four receptors. The results showed that the predicted noise was less than 70 dB(A) in the vicinity of the wind turbine generators, decreased down to 40-45 dB(A) within the project boundary, and was in the range of 35-40 dB(A) in the community area. The compared results showed that the ambient noise exceeds the noise levels from the wind turbine generators at all four receptor sites. Hence, wind power plants would not cause any additional noise pollution. Such studies are vital to providing awareness to the public based on proven scientific evidence to gain the public's trust and mitigate social opposition to wind power plants.
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