The WINDFARM perception project

Welcome on the WINDFARM perception project website. This project investigated the perception of wind turbines by its surrounding residents.  

In the National Windenergy Actionplan the Dutch government set a task to double the share of wind energy by 2020. To accomplish this goal, over 400 large wind turbines will have to be built on land, and up to another 2000 windturbines at sea.

The WINDFARM perception project shows that wind farm sound has an adverse effect on the perception of otherwise positively rated wind energy. Not only is this type of sound noticeable in low range sound levels, the swishing/slashing character makes masking of the wind turbine sound by e.g. traffic noise difficult. Sound power levels above 45 dB even lead to sleeping difficulties.

The project is a collaboration of the University of Groningen Science Shops, the University Medical Centre Groningen and the University of Göteborg. Finance was provided by the EU.