windmill

moeh1 · May 12, 2006

Anyone got any real up-close experience. They are planned to go up on the farm next to me and they want every kilowatt so these will be the biggest ones ever in NY ( 399 feet tall). I am all for green power, just concerned over the noise level. Town has a new law with a 50dBA level at the property line as the upper limit and a 1500' separation from any house to the windmill. Wondering if I should be concerned or not. Appreciate any wisdom.

goaliedad · May 12, 2006

There's a commercial windmill in our area- not close to my house. I've never heard any complaints about the noise.

beenthere · May 12, 2006

Can already tell you are concerned, and have every right to be. Whether you need to be worried about it upsetting your peaceful existence apparently in the country, time will tell.
I don't even like the new houses that go up in the rural area I'm in that insist on having a light on all night long. Waste of energy, lights the way for any intruder, and spews light across the countryside that has no useful purpose. A reflector to shine the light down to the surrounding ground seems better, and better yet would be a motion detector to have the light shine only when something is moving about. Much better alarm to scare intruders away as well as to let one know something is moving about. End of rant.
Wish you well with the big generators.

3RRL · May 12, 2006

Only thing I can add is to keep a close eye out for a "runaway". Mke sure your brakes are in top working order. Those giant propeller blades can go whizzing along and cause mass destruction if they ever came off....so my solar/wind contractor told me.

beenthere · May 12, 2006

Yeah, but /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifthose things probably have a couple set screws to hold em tight, and don't just rely on one. Hope they used a little loc-tite too.

ByronBob · May 12, 2006

What town?

JJT · May 12, 2006

I've toured several wind farms, even got to climb 1 of the towers and hang out on the nacelle, (240' to the ground). You don't have anything to worry about. I hope your town is getting some host benefits.

Where are you located? Madison county has 2 wind farms and there is a huge one on the Tug Hill plateau. I believe all of these are 1.5 - 1.6 Mw units. Tug Hill and Fenner are GE units, the small Madison county wind farm is using Vespa units.

Do yourself a favor and tour a wind farm. I'd take 1 in my backyard in a heart beat.

They are quiet if that's your concern. Some folks think they are an eye sore, I happen to think they look good. Others think the bird kill is huge, (2 birds/unit/year is the average). Any outdoor cat can do that in a day.....

450EXC · May 13, 2006

I live near the big fans in Fenner. They sure do make a lot of wind. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously, they dont make any noise at all. The snowmobile trail goes right by some of them. We have stopped there and cant hear any noise.

They are impressive machines but I dont think I would want them next door. Takes away from the country atmosphere. I hear the farmers that lease the land to them get good money though.

moeh1 · May 15, 2006

Thanks for the feedback. This batch is going up in the Cohocton/Naples area. I gather that there are several actual projects going on, the one nearest to me has over 40 sites for the windmills. The town set a 50 dBA noise limit at the propery line, the computer model they did for the envronmental impact statement shows it to be at the limit near the edge of our property, so it will be interesting. I'm glad some of you have some actual non-hysterical data to share, lots of vocal people here. The town will get some revenue, so there is an upside.

moeh1 · May 15, 2006

Thanks for the feedback. This batch is going up in the Cohocton/Naples area. I gather that there are several actual projects going on, the one nearest to me has over 40 sites for the windmills. The town set a 50 dBA noise limit at the propery line, the computer model they did for the envronmental impact statement shows it to be at the limit near the edge of our property, so it will be interesting. I'm glad some of you have some actual non-hysterical data to share, lots of vocal people here. The town will get some revenue, so there is an upside.