Wind Farm Noise and Regulations in the Eastern United States

Recent advancements in the wind turbine technology, combined with available federal and state incentives, have greatly enhanced the development of wind powered electric generation facilities in the Eastern United States. Particularly ridges of the Allegany Mountains in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia have become attractive sites for commercial wind farm developers. The fast development of commercial wind farms is currently an important issue in these regions due to environmental impacts. The paper describes the demographic structure of the Allegany Mountains and presents an assessment of the audible noise at residences near actual wind turbines. The noise level recommendations of the USA Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) and local noise ordinances that apply to wind turbines are compared with the acceptable noise levels in various countries. The current status and trend of the wind power development in the Eastern USA, the expected benefits, and public concerns are discussed. Introduction Since the beginning of the 21 century, wind power development in the eastern part of the United States has grown significantly due to recent improvements in the wind turbine technology and financial incentives provided by the federal government and states. Data collected by American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) indicates that the total capacity of wind farms installed in 14 states east of the Mississippi river, which was 29 MW in 1999, has reached 843 MW in the end of 2006 (Flowers, L., 2007). Total 605 MW wind power plants were developed in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia between 2000 and 2006. While the proportion of electricity generated by wind farms is still relatively small compared to the other sources, wind seems to be a potential clean energy alternative to the fossil fuels used in the region.