Infrasound Emission from Wind Turbines

Abstract

A critical survey of all known published measurement results of infrasound from wind turbines has been made. The survey indicates that wind turbines of contemporary design with an upwind rotor generate very faint infrasound with a level far below the threshold of perception even at a rather short distance. From considerations on propagation and transmission of infrasound it is concluded that infrasound from such upwind turbines can be neglected when evaluating the environment effects of wind turbines. Turbines with downwind rotors produce 10 – 30 dB higher infrasound levels, and these may exceed relevant assessment criteria for dwellings in the immediate neighbourhood. When longer distances are considered, neither downwind nor upwind turbines are capable of violating assessment criteria for infrasound. This paper considers whether other aspects of the noise than the infrasound can explain the indicated adverse public reactions to large downwind turbines.