Residents rage against wind farms 

A call for more research into the health effects of wind farms has been ignored.

Dr Alan Watts will today present a report to the NSW government alleging the noise from wind farms is above acceptable levels.

ASX-listed company Infigen Energy is planning to build 44 turbines at Flyer’s Creek, within 5 kilometres of Dr Watt’s home.

“We are trying to stop the Flyer’s Creek development because it’s in a densely populated rural area and the environmental assessment is flawed,” said Dr Watts, a GP from Carcoar in rural NSW.

“They are dangerous, they are destructive and they are dumb … they are the most expensive form of electricity save solar,” Dr Watts said.

The report by acoustic and vibration engineers, The Acoustic Group, finds the official noise monitoring survey for the Flyers Creek wind farm is flawed.

It also completed testing at the Infigen-owned Capital Wind Farm outside Canberra. It found the facility “is generating audible noise significantly above predicted levels and above levels prescribed”.

A National Health and Medical Research Council review of literature current in 2009 found no published evidence linking wind turbines with adverse health effects.

There are two possible ways wind turbines could damage health – by disturbing sleep, and through low frequency sub-audible vibrations, which Dr Alan Watts describes as “dangerous sound”.

A federal Senate inquiry into wind power recommended as a matter of priority new research be done into the effect of turbines on health.

Six months after the report was published, research is yet to start.

University of Sydney public health Professor Simon Chapman said health claims were linked with the predispositions against wind farms, and that a minority of residents were annoyed by wind farms.

“If you get super-annoyed, you can make yourself ill,” he said.

In Victoria, concerns over the effect of a wind-farm on a brolga population scotched one project, east of Mortlake.

Another development south of Mortlake is proceeding, against the wishes of local resident Shelley McDonald.

The development would put 51 of the 140-metre high turbines outside her kitchen window, including five within 2 kilometres of her house.

The state government recently changed rules to prohibit the construction of turbines within 2 kilometres of a dwelling, but the Acciona-owned wind farm was planned prior to the rule changes.

Mrs McDonald knows people from nearby Waubra who’ve moved to get away from a wind farm there.

“They say they just can’t cope with it,” she said.

More than $10 billion of investment in wind is in the pipeline, propelled by the federal target to generate 20 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2020.

Clean Energy Council spokesman Mark Bretherton said millions of Europeans live near wind farms with no problems and some have done so for decades.

Opponents of wind are “a very vocal minority who are engaged in an activism campaign designed to create fear and sow doubt about the many benefits of wind farms,” he said.

Infigen is proposing community-owned wind turbines as part of the Flyer’s Creek development, that would allow the community to profit from the development.

“Despite councils receiving contributions from wind farm developers, some communities have voiced concerns. They fear this misalignment will result in them not seeing a tangible benefit,” the company said in a statement on Saturday.