Are wind turbines noisy?

Are wind turbines noisy?

Thanks to advances in wind turbine technology, welldesigned, well-sited turbines can be quiet enough to cause no disturbance to people living just a few hundred metres away. At these distances, any noise they do make is usually drowned out by the natural noise of the wind itself in trees and vegetation. To protect nearby residents from any undue disturbance, proposals to install wind turbines are required to meet strict noise standards.

Having read exaggerated claims in the press, people visiting wind farms are often surprised at how quiet they are. The Scottish Executive public opinion survey is one of several demonstrating that concerns about noise are often unfounded. Before construction of the Scottish wind farms, 12 per cent of people living near the sites thought that the turbines would cause a noise nuisance, but after construction, when people had experience of the wind farm operating, only 1 per cent thought they were noisy.