Deal struck on turbine noise
Noise complaints that have dogged Palmerston North’s Te Rere Hau wind farm for a decade may have been silenced.
Resource management commissioners have put the final touches on a new set of noise control conditions largely agreed between the city council, New Zealand Windfarms and neighbours during and after a hearing in September.
The Environment Court has not received any valid appeals against their decision.
The wind farm on the Tararua Range has attracted more than 1700 complaints about noise since its consent was issued in 2005, as the turbines were noisier than predicted.
After several rounds of litigation, the city council called a review of consent conditions.
The resolution mostly centred on controls on the operation of three turbines closest to homes in the rural-residential areas.
NZ Windfarms will have to shut down the most troublesome turbines at low wind speeds from the southeast in evenings and at weekends when people are enjoying the outdoors.
Chief executive John Worth, who has been in the job since March, said the outcome was the icing on the cake after a busy year.
Worth said rather than focusing on whether or not the wind farm was technically complying with previous conditions, he had worked on the principle of being a good neighbour. ‘‘Putting compliance to one side, we thought, if it’s p ...... people off, then that’s not good enough. We had been a terrible neighbour.’’
It began a voluntary shutdown of up to 28 turbines in July to give neighbours respite in the evenings.
The resolution requires constant noise monitoring accessible on a public website, and the setting up of a community liaison group to ensure the new regime is effective in providing the results people want.
Neighbour Dr Lee Huffman said it was encouraging that NZ Windfarms had been prepared to make tradeoffs.
She said the commissioners had provided a mechanism through monitoring and liaison to ensure improvements were maintained so they could be ‘‘comfortable neighbours’’ in the long term.