2016 ANNUAL REPORT
INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC
COMMITTEE ON WIND TURBINES
June 2017
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the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment and Energy.
2 June 2017
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
Minister for the Environment and Energy
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Minister
2016 Annual Report of the Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines
Pursuant to the Committee’s Terms of Reference, I am pleased to provide the first Annual Report to the
Australian Parliament on the activities of the Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines.
The Report covers activities in the period from the Committee’s creation through to
31 December 2016.
Yours sincerely
John Davy
Chair
Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines
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Contents
Background
Members
Terms of reference
Meetings
Work and discussions completed to date
Recent papers and publications considered by the Committee
Related research funded by the National Health and Medical Reseach Council (NHMRC)
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Background
On 9 October 2015, the then Minister for the Environment, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, announced that the Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines had been established to build on the work of the National Health and Medical Research Council and provide advice on the science and monitoring of potential impacts of wind turbine sound on health and the environment. The Committee will provide an Annual Report to the Australian Parliament. The establishment of this Committee was part of the Government’s commitment to respond to community concerns about wind farms.
Members
The Committee is chaired by:
Adjunct Professor John Davy
RMIT University and CSIRO.
Other members of the Committee are:
Professor Simon Carlile
Head of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Medical Science, University of Sydney and Senior Director of Research at the Starkey Hearing Research Centre, Berkeley, USA.
Clinical Professor David Hillman
Department of Pulmonary Physiology and Sleep Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Perth, WA.
Dr Kym Burgemeister
Principal, Arup.
Terms of reference
The Committee is convened as an independent, multidisciplinary, expert group to improve scienceand monitoring of the potential impacts of sound from wind turbines (including low frequency andinfrasound) on health and the environment.
The Committee will provide advice on:
•the development of Australian methodologies and frameworks in sound measurement and standardsfor wind farms, including in the field of infrasound and low frequency sound;
•innovation in cost-effective, continuous sound monitoring of wind farms; and
•options for wind farm operators to maximise transparency such as by providing information onwind speed, operational statistics, operating hours and sound monitoring.
The Committee will monitor and periodically review progress in understanding the potential healthimpacts of wind farms and comment on further possible research developments to support standardsand measurement protocols.
An important part of the Committee’s role is bringing together partners to inform their work,including linking to the work being undertaken through the National Health and MedicalResearch Council.
The Committee complements the work of the National Wind Farm Commissioner to identify needsand priorities for monitoring efforts to deliver transparency of information.
The Committee will provide an Annual Report to the Australian Parliament reporting on deliveryagainst these Terms of Reference and other achievements.
The Committee will operate for an initial 3-year period (December 2015 to December 2018), afterwhich its progress and role will be reviewed.
Meetings
The Committee met on six occasions between December 2015 and December 2016.
Friday 18 December 2015 (meeting by teleconference)
The Committee was briefed by officers from the then Department of the Environment and advised on the role of the Committee, and the Secretariat support provided by the Department. The Committee discussed its role, and how the members would work together to deliver under its Terms of Reference.
Thursday 11 February 2016 (meeting by telephone and video conference)
The Committee discussed the role of the National Wind Farm Commissioner and how the Committee complements that work. The Committee discussed the projects awarded grants for research into wind farms and human health from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and agreed that these represented appropriate investigations that were likely to be helpful in providing greater certainty regarding the potential health and amenity impacts of wind farm sound. Committee member Kym Burgemeister provided a general information session on wind turbines to the Committee. Part of this meeting was attended by teleconference by the National Wind Farm Commissioner, Mr Andrew Dyer.
Thursday 14 April 2016 (meeting by video conference)
The National Wind Farm Commissioner attended part of this meeting by video conference and briefed the Committee on some key lessons learnt from his work to date.
The Committee discussed what aspects of the potential impacts of wind turbines on human health and well-being from their acoustic and infrasound outputs required further review and investigation. Deficiencies in current knowledge were considered along with efforts to address these, including recent NHMRC grants specifically considering effects on sleep. It was decided to draft a report, to review current knowledge and formalise the Committee’s thoughts regarding wind turbine noise limits. It was considered that the discipline of preparing such a report would provide focus and rigour, with the outputs to be subject to peer review by international experts.
Thursday 9 June 2016 (meeting by video conference)
The first part of this meeting was attended by the National Wind Farm Commissioner and the work of his office was discussed. In the second part of the meeting attention turned to the draft report which had been circulated and responded to by all the Committee members. Considerable time was devoted to discussing the potential health effects of infrasound.
Thursday 4 July 2016 (face to face meeting in Melbourne)
There was extensive further discussion of the draft report. The Committee reached consensus around amenity impacts due to audible noise, about which a considerable literature had accumulated largely based on direct A-weighted sound measurements. Existing recommended wind farm set-backs appeared to take these into account with state-by-state provisions being in general agreement with the NHMRC recommendation of 1.5 km. This distance was considered reasonable by the Committee, although the use of setbacks in addition to a noise level performance requirement was considered to be unnecessary.
There was less certainty regarding infrasound effects, as the literature available was far more limited. The Committee considered the biological plausibility of infrasound effects on cochlear function and carefully considered the notion of individual susceptibility based on low thresholds for cochlearmediated neural transduction of infrasound, resulting in non-auditory effects such as nausea, vertigo and tinnitus.
The Committee visited the Arup acoustic laboratory and was provided a demonstration of simulated wind farm noise, as used for project stakeholder consultation.
Thursday 6 October 2016 (meeting by video conference)
Committee member, Professor Simon Carlile, gave a presentation on auditory physiology with attention given to the mechanisms underlying neural transduction of sound energy as outlined in the Hearing Research review by Salt and Huller (2010). Discussion on the draft report continued based on amendments circulated amongst the Committee following the previous meeting.
Thursday 1 December 2016 (postponed)
This meeting was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.
Work and discussions completed to date
Following its decision to formally review the literature relating to the various prescribed wind farmnoise limits in Australasia, their rationale and their consistency with current understanding, theCommittee devoted considerable time generating a working document articulating these matters. Theanalysis it provides was informed by the expertise in acoustic engineering, neurophysiology and sleepdisturbance held by Committee members.
The working document is now in advanced draft stage and summarises current knowledge andhighlights where deficiencies in knowledge exist. As such, it provides an objective basis against whichthe Committee can provide advice.
While the Committee believes that consensus regarding noise limits and the setbacks required toensure their observance should be achievable, it recognises the limited statistical power of presentresearch examining the health effects of wind turbine noise because of the relatively small numberof participants involved. This means that the possibility that wind turbines could induce changes inhealth status in a very small percentage of exposed individuals because of particular sensitivities is notdismissed. This matter is still under discussion by the Committee.
The Committee looked at a number of sound surveys and noted that there is a significant relationshipbetween annoyance (a long-term response (~12 months) of being very annoyed as determined by surveyresponses) and wind turbine noise level, a function of turbine noise generating characteristics anddistance of the subject from it.
The Committee agrees with the National Health and Medical Research Council’s conclusion that thereis inconsistent, poor quality direct evidence of an association between sleep disturbance and wind farmnoise. Furthermore, there is no consistent data to suggest wind turbines cause adverse health effectsbeyond the effects of annoyance but likewise such effects can not be ruled out because of the limitationof current research.
However, this does not exclude the possibility of such effects in a small percentage of exposedindividuals either because of particular sensitivity to audible sound or to infrasound. While nostatistically significant evidence of such effects currently exists, it remains possible that there areindividuals with particular susceptibilities to these. Several researchers have proposed plausiblemechanisms by which infrasound and/or low frequency noise from wind turbines could affect people.However, others refute these or claim that they are not relevant at typical wind turbine sound pressurelevels and frequencies.
This matter is under active consideration by the Committee which recognises its importance, notleast because this will influence the cost of the monitoring systems that the Committee is required torecommend under its terms of reference. Related to this, the Committee has examined the case forincorporation of general low frequency noise limits in wind turbine noise guidelines.
The Committee has also considered alternative sources of annoyance with wind turbines to thosedirectly referable to sound and infrasound.
Finally, the Committee considered the measurement and analysis techniques required to evaluatewind farm noise and its effects. In addition to sound level it recognises the importance of consideringamplitude modulation of wind turbine noise in this regard.
The Committee plans to release its findings in a series of papers which will be peer-reviewed priorto publication.
Recent papers and publications considered by the Committee
The Committee has reviewed a large number of papers and considered these in the understanding of the issues. A full list is available on the website
Related research funded by the National Health and Medical Reseach Council (NHMRC)
On 22 March 2016, two grants, totalling $3.3 million, were awarded by the NHMRC in response to the 2015 Targeted Call for Research into Wind Farms and Human Health, following the release of the NHMRC Statement: Evidence on Wind Farms and Human Health.
This research should enrich the evidence-based understanding of the effects of wind farms on human health.
The Flinders University of South Australia is exploring relationships between noise from wind farms and effects such as annoyances and reduced sleep and quality of life.
The University of New South Wales is investigating the broader social and environmental circumstances that may influence the health of people living near wind farms.
The outcomes of this research will assist in developing policy and public health recommendations regarding wind turbine development and operations in Australia.
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