Your Ref:
Our Ref:
Wind Submissions,
Planning Section,
Department of the Environment, Community and Local
Government,
Custom House,
Dublin 1.
By email to: windsubmissions@environ.ie
D P Energy Ireland Limited
Mill House, Buttevant,
Co Cork, Ireland
Tel: (+353) (0) 22 23955
Fax:(+353) (0) 22 23027
E-mail: maureen.depietro@dpenergy.com
21st February, 2014
Re: Response to Wind Energy Guidelines Focused Review: Draft statutory guidelines.
Dear Planning Section,
We have carried out development of wind energy generation projects for more than 20
years and have constructed owned and operated wind farms in Ireland and elsewhere. The
Previous Guidelines have been very useful and helpful in enabling the successful
development of wind energy in Ireland. In our experience pre planning objections and
complaints are not normally sustained and objectors appear to fade away after wind farm
construction probably because the adverse effects which were anticipated or imagined did
not in fact materialise. It is ironic that ,now that the probable adverse weather effects
arising from climate change are becoming apparent , the unfortunate lobbying against
wind energy has increased and we trust that the Department will deal with it accordingly.
Most opposition (except the commercial or the irrational) can be dealt with by education
and the Guidelines should not imply that all circumstances are worst cases.
We support the IWEA response to the DoECLG public consultation on the Wind Energy
Guidelines Focused Review: Draft statutory guidelines. Clear planning guidance is crucial
to ensure community confidence in the consistent standards being applied, and provide a
stable policy framework to allow the industry, which now employs over 3400 people to
make the clear and necessary progress towards our 2020 targets.
We support the positions taken by IWEA and would like to reiterate the following points:

We believe that the scale of the response proposed by the Department is
disproportionate to the perceived and it is not clear and with the lack of
evidence of issues actually being encountered under the current guidelines,
despite there being over 2GW of wind energy now operating in Ireland

The proposed use of an absolute 40dBA day and night noise limit is unnecessary,
unsubstantiated and wholly conservative. It is not clear how this figure has been
arrived at, as the setting of such a limit is out of line with the findings of the
Marshall Day study. We also believe the Irish approach as proposed in the Proposed
Revisions is grossly out of step with International and particularly European
approaches, and will if implemented be severely detrimental to continuing viable
wind development in Ireland.
While strongly suggesting that the existing noise framework be retained, we
propose that if the Department is minded to change to a 40dB limit that it should
be 40dB LA90 10min, or a maximum increase of 5dB(A) above background noise
(whichever is greater). The criterion should be assessed for both day (07:00 to
Registered Office: Mill House, Buttevant, Co. Cork.
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Directors: Maureen De Pietro ~ Simon De Pietro
23:00hrs) and night time (23:00 to 07:00hrs) periods. This approach would be in
line with the UK best practice under ETSU-R-97.

There is a concern that a setback distance if it is to be established must include a
clear limitation from the turbine to the receptor as per Irish industrial norms. As
currently proposed the Guidelines would include an ill-defined “curtilage” and
“special amenity” area which could cause confusion for planners and developers,
and possibly lead to increased setback distances. We propose that if it is to be
maintained, the concept of “curtilage” be more strictly defined to a radius of 20m
for planners in line with international best practice under the UK best practice
standard ETSU-R-97 Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms1 and the IOA
Good Practice Guide on Wind Turbine Noise2.

An absolute exclusion on shadow flicker as proposed would be impossible to
implement for wind farm developers as the prospect of shadow flicker for even a
short period of time in a year would provide cause for issue which is wholly
unreasonable. Complaint about shadow flicker is very common (pre construction)
because people(having no idea what it means) imagine an enormous impact. We
ask that the International recommended limits for shadow flicker of 30 hours per
year or 30 minutes per day for receptors within 500 metres which have proven
effective in Ireland and internationally are maintained. We suggest a strict planning
condition provision ensuring wind farm developers bring forward rapid remedy in
the extremely rare situations where an issue should arise.

While welcoming the proposed flexibility, greater certainty and clarity on
exceptions there are three points we would like to raise:
1. Firstly exceptions to the noise limits should be clarified in line with the UK best
practice ETSU–R-97 Guidelines on noise limits for persons with a financial
involvement.
2. Secondly exceptions to the setback limit should be explicitly mandated under
the Guidelines replacing “may” to “will” in the first line of the text on page 8.
3. Thirdly in line with the approaches taken under noise and setback for there to
be the possibility of a similar exception to be provided for in the rare situation
of shadow flicker arising.
Finally, we have large practical questions of how compliance will be assessed at preapplication (rather than pre-construction) and call for this detail to be fully consulted on
along with the necessary appendices vital to allow for clear and factual scrutiny of the
evidential and factual detail on which the Proposed Revisions rest.
In conclusion we would like to thank Department for the opportunity to engage on this
issue and to highlight the particular importance of this consultation given the significant
implications it has for the continued viability of the wind sector.
Yours sincerely
*sent by email, requires no signature
MAUREEN DE PIETRO
1
http://www.hayesmckenzie.co.uk/downloads/ETSU%20Full%20copy%20(Searchable).pdf
http://www.ioa.org.uk/sites/default/files/IOA%20Good%20Practice%20Guide%20on%20Wind%20T
urbine%20Noise%20-%20May%202013.pdf
2
Registered Office: Mill House, Buttevant, Co. Cork.
Registered in Ireland No. 345411 ~ VAT No. IE 6365411M
Directors: Maureen De Pietro ~ Simon De Pietro