December 19, 2013
Finland
Finland
New decree and measurement guidelines will support the permit process for wind power construction.
The government of Finland will prepare a decree on wind power noise levels in spring 2014, according to Pia Viitanen, Minister of Housing and Communications. “The decree will define the decibel limits for noise from wind turbines as well as the areas where the guidelines will be applied,” said Viitanen at a recent wind power event. The decree will not define a minimum distance required between wind turbines and habitation, so the planning process will require case-specific consultation.
The Ministry of the Environment has also prepared a proposal for the modelling and measurement of noise created by wind turbines, which aims to support the planning process for wind power areas. The guidelines will be announced following the completion of the consultation stage of the proposal.
Permit process has speeded up
Many Finnish regional authorities are currently preparing regional plans for wind power construction. Since 2011, the planning process for wind power construction in Finland has been speeded up by granting local municipalities the right to grant building permits based on the master plan.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the permit process for wind power construction is now working well and provides good preconditions for reaching Finland’s long-term energy and climate objectives that include the construction of about 1000 wind turbines. The plans already under consideration would actually provide a significantly higher number of wind turbines than this target.
Source: Ministry of the Environment
18 December 2013
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/12/19/finland-to-issue-decree-on-wind-turbine-noise-levels/