Resource Documents — latest additions
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Large eddy simulation study of the humidity variation in the shadow of a large wind farm
Author: Haywood, John; et al.
Abstract—
Numerous studies have shown that wind turbine wakes within a large wind farm bring about changes to both the dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmospheric boundary layers (ABL). Previously, we investigated the relative humidity budget within a wind farm via field measurements in the near-wake region and large eddy simulations (LES). The effect of the compounding wakes within a large wind farm on the relative humidity was also investigated by LES. In this study, we investigate how the areas of relative humidity variation, that was observed in the near-wake, develop downstream in the shadow region of a large wind farm. To this end, LES of a wind farm consisting of 8×6 wind turbines with periodic boundary condition in the lateral direction (inferring an infinitely wide farm) interacting with a stable ABL is carried out. Two wind farm layouts, aligned and staggered, are considered in the analysis and the results from both configurations are compared to each other. It is observed that a decrease of relative humidity underneath the hub height and an increase above the hub height build up within the wind farm, and are maintained in the downstream of the farm for long distances. The staggered farm layout is more effective in keeping a more elongated region of low relative humidity underneath the hub, when compared to the aligned layout.
Qualitative representation of turbulence in the ABL via iso-surfaces of Q criterion colored by the streamwise velocity component (the ground is shown in green, and wind turbine rotors are shown in yellow): A, aligned layout; B, staggered layout. The streamwise direction is scaled down by a factor of 10.
John Stephen Haywood, Adrian Sescu, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville
Kevin Allan Adkins, Department of Aeronautical Science, Embry Riddle Aeronautical Engineering, Daytona Beach, Florida
Wind Energy, 2019;1-9. Published online Nov. 8, 2019. DOI: 10.1002/we.2434
Download original document: “Large eddy simulation study of the humidity variation in the shadow of a large wind farm”
Case studies that have convinced me that industrial wind turbines make people sick
Author: Acker, William
- Cape Bridgewater Study in Australia
- Falmouth, Massachusetts
- The sound from a wind turbine can make other objects vibrate (such as the body) if the sound frequency matches a resonant frequency of an object
- Affidavits submitted by Brown County residents in Shirley Wind indicating that the wind turbines have adversely affected their health
- Wind turbines continue to get larger and larger (in both size and MW output), the noise is dropping in frequency, and the content of low frequency and infrasonic noise is increasing.
- “Adverse Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines: A Preliminary Report,” prepared for the International Commission on Biological Effects on Noise (ICBEN), July 24-28, 2011, by Michael Nissenbaum, MD, Jeff Aramini, PhD, and Chris Hanning, MD
- Closure of mink farm located in vildbjerg denmark due to problems from a wind farm
- Professor Alec Salt, Washington University Medical School Department of Otolaryngology, study using guinea pigs: “Large Endolymphatic Potentials From Low_frequency and Infrasonic Tones in the Guinea Pig, published in the Journal of the Acoustic Society of America in March 2013.
- Amplitude modulation of infrasound & low frequency noise
- Epidemiologic evidence (9 case-crossover examples, 3 revealed preference cases)
- Wind farm developers that settled with injured residents
- European countries have written noise codes to protect residents from
- problems from industrial wind turbines and other devices
- Sick building syndrome – per acoustical engineer Richard James
- Since 1973 The United States Government has sponsored a research & development
- program in wind energy in order to make wind turbines a viable technology
- British Medical Journal acknowledges health impacts of wind farms: “Wind Turbine Noise Seems to Affect Health Adversely and an Independent Review of Evidence is Needed,” March 2012, Dr. Christopher D. Hanning and Professor Alun Evans.
- People who have gone through considerable medical analysis to understand their health problems, which started when the wind turbines started up: health studies of their symptoms did not find any explanation to the symptoms other than the pressure pulsations from the turbines; in some of cases the doctors did believe that the problem was the wind turbines and in other cases the doctors could not explain the cause of the symptoms based on their tests conducted in their offices away from the wind turbines.
- People who have hosted wind turbine installations on their land have become sick from the wind turbines
- List of symptoms, from the Waubra Foundation
- Can expectations produce symptoms from low frequency noise & infrasound associated with wind turbines?
- Epidemiological study of health effects of persons living within 1100 meters of the Mars Hill wind turbine project, 28 wind turbines 1.5 MW in size, study by Dr. Michael M. Nissenbaum.
- Falmouth Massachusetts study: “Wind Turbine Acoustic Investigation: Infrasound and Low-Frequency Noise – A Case Study,” Stephen E. Ambrose, Robert W. Rand, and Carmen M.E. Krogh, September 11, 2012.
- Self-reporting surveys to residents living in the Waterloo Wind Farm in South Australia, 37 Vestas V90 industrial wind turbines 3.0 MW in size, started up in 2011: upon start-up there were many negative sleep loss and health impact complaints from the residents and effects on livestock (most notably poultry)
- Mrs. Anne Schafer has compiled this preliminary survey report from data collected from an anonymous survey of residents living within 10 km (6.2 miles) of the AGL Macarthur Wind Development in southwest Victoria, Australia. The first Vestas V112 3 MW industrial wind turbines started operation in October 2012, a total of 130 wind turbines installed
- Statement made by epidemiologist Carl V. Phillips, PhD, in “Properly Interpreting the Epidemiologic Evidence About the Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines on Nearby Residents,“ August 2011.
- Carl V. Phillips testimony, June 30, 2010, Madison, to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.
- The World Health Organization in their 1999 Guidelines for Community Noise made the following comment: “It should be noted that a large proportion of low-frequency component in a noise may increase considerably the adverse effects on health.”
- The Royal Society is an independent Scientific academy of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, dedicated to promoting excellence in science. The is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the Royal Society which covers all scientific fields. In 4 the journal published a study called “Low-Frequency Sound Affects Active Micromechanics In the Human Ear,” Royal Society Open Science, August 2014, by Dr. Markus Drexl et al., University of Munich; Dr. Drexl is with the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.
- Fibrosis, thickening, and scarring of connective tissue as a result of injury from exposure to low-frequency noise and infrasound: including damage to lung tissue, heart tissue, blood vessel walls, cardiac valves, and pericardium sac; exposure results in abnormal growth of collagen in blood vessel walls, tracheal wall, pleural sac, stomach wall, and kidney glomeruli; also, the cilia that line the respiratory tract are severely damaged: “Vibroacoustic Disease—The Response of Biological Tissue to Low-Frequency Noise,” presented at the 11th International Meeting on Low-Frequency Noise and Vibration and Its Control.
- Sensitization of people exposed to industrial wind turbine noise
- Analysis of aerodynamic sound noise generated by a large-scaled wind turbine and its physiologic evaluation
- Question from Richard James to Professor Alec Salt: “Does infrasound from wind
- turbines affect the inner ear?”
- Additional information from Professor Alec Salt
- Health problems at the Lammefjordens Stauder Nursery in Gislinge, Denmark
- Effects wind turbines have on domestic animals, farms, & wildlife
- Poland National Institute of Public Health & Polish Senate
- Towns that have voted against wind farms
- Unusual bleeding and problems with menstrual cycles
- Developmental tissue damage causing flexural deformities in the front limbs of foals at the Lusitano Stud Farm in Portugal
- Acoustical engineer Steven Cooper of Australlia proves that wind turbine sensitized people can sense the inaudible infrasound noise from wind turbines
- Fight-or-flight response
William G. Acker
Acker & Associates
Prepared: December 27, 2015 through Feb. 18, 2019
Download original document: “Some of the case studies that have convinced me that industrial wind turbines make people sick, which supports my belief that we can prove in a court of law that these wind turbines are causing annoyance and illnesses”
Three estimates of decommissioning cost
Author: Various
Brian R. Zelenak, Manager, Regulatory Administration, Xcel Energy, February 8, 2011 – re: Nobles Wind Energy Project, Minnesota, 1.5-MW turbines. [download]
A conservative estimate for a decommissioning expense is approximately four-hundred forty-five thousand dollars ($445,000) per turbine (2009 dollars).*
*Includes allowance for salvage value and based on total dismantling cost estimate for the project of 8.7% of the total plant balance of $510,965,406, equaling an estimated dismantling cost [of] $44.5 million or $445,000 per turbine. [NWW note: The Nobles project consists of 134 1.5-MW turbines, not 100, which would make the assumed 8.7% decommissioning cost $332,000 per turbine (2009 dollars).]
[$445,000 in 2009 is equivalent to $533,000 in 2019, $332,000 to $397,000.]
Wenck Associates, April 2017 – re: Palmer’s Creek Wind Farm, Minnesota, 2.5-MW turbines. [download]
The estimated cost to decommission Palmer’s Creek Wind Farm was provided by Fagen, Inc., construction contractor, in a letter dated November 16, 2016. The estimate is considered to be the current dollar value (at time of approval) of salvage value and removal costs. The estimated salvage value of each turbine will be based upon the worst-case scenario assuming the only salvage value of the turbine is from scrapping the steel. The estimate was based upon the total weight of one turbine, which is 275 tons consisting primarily of steel. Because it does not separate the scrap value of all the constituent materials, the estimate is very conservative. Also, it is highly likely that there would be opportunities for re-sale for reuse of all or some of the turbines or turbine components. Based on the current estimate, the cost of decommissioning is $7,385,822 with a potential scrap return value of $445,500 [net cost of $385,573 per turbine, $403,881 in 2019 dollars].
Henry Blattner, Senior Estimator, Blattner Energy, to Ryan Pumford, Nextera Energy, 2017 – re: Tuscola Wind III, Michigan, 2-MW turbines. [download]
To mobilize a crew and equipment, take down a GE wind turbine and haul off site the cost would be $675,000.00. Assuming a salvage value of $150 per ton and weight of 188 tons for the steel in the turbine and tower we [would] be able to reduce this cost by $28,200. The total price minus the salvaged steel would be $646,800.00.
Couple statements about reliability and cost
Author: Northern Indiana Public Service Company
Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission: Cause 45159 [link] —
Verified Direct Testimony of Andrew S. Campbell, Director of Regulatory Support & Planning, Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) [link]
Q18. How will reliability be maintained when the wind isn’t blowing?
A18. NIPSCO will continue to dispatch its steam and gas fleet and other available wind generation, as well as purchase power from MISO, to meet customer demand and reliability needs throughout the term of the Roaming Bison Wind Energy PPA. This ensures that when the wind is not blowing customers will continue to receive reliable service every hour of every day.
Verified Direct Testimony of Benjamin Felton, Senior Vice President, NIPSCO Electric [link]
Q23. Do reductions in the dispatch of NIPSCO’s coal units impact the cost to operate those units?
A23. Yes. NIPSCO’s coal units were engineered to be used as base load units that run consistently over long periods of time, and they were not designed to ramp up and down in response to short term market signals. As those units become less economical, the cost to operate them increases because in addition to the increased maintenance required of older units, the added expenses to ramp the units up and down are incurred more frequently. NIPSCO must remain mindful of how that added expense to customers balances against the impact on reliability. In spite of the cost control efforts NIPSCO has undertaken as I have referenced above, the operational characteristics of these plants dictate that some increases in costs cannot be avoided when the plants are operated outside of the parameters for which they were designed.
[This was the same Cause in which the Sierra Club asserted their interest, which was for an arm of the energy industry, not the environment: “Sierra Club seeks full intervention in order to ensure that its interests in lower cost and cleaner energy options are fully represented, and to bring to this proceeding its expertise in electric utility matters.” (link)]
