Turbine Draws New Complaints
The Press, Christ Church|Paul Gorman|March 10, 2006
Neighbours of Windflow Technology's prototype turbine on Gebbies Pass have begun complaining about its noise again.
Neighbours of Windflow Technology's prototype turbine on Gebbies Pass have begun complaining about its noise again.
Residents of nearby McQueens Valley have been silent about the turbine's running for about a year, after a report by an independent noise consultant that the listed Christchurch company was meeting the sound requirements of its Banks Peninsula District Council resource consent.
But now they say the 500 kilowatt turbine was making a new and increasingly loud noise before it was switched off this week for gearbox retro-fitting.
Windflow spokesman Tim Armitage said the company was not aware the turbine's noise levels had been creeping up.
The only reason it had been turned off this week was to remove the old stage-four gearbox and replace it with an updated unit.
The new gearbox was being put into the five turbines now under construction for …
Residents of nearby McQueens Valley have been silent about the turbine's running for about a year, after a report by an independent noise consultant that the listed Christchurch company was meeting the sound requirements of its Banks Peninsula District Council resource consent.
But now they say the 500 kilowatt turbine was making a new and increasingly loud noise before it was switched off this week for gearbox retro-fitting.
Windflow spokesman Tim Armitage said the company was not aware the turbine's noise levels had been creeping up.
The only reason it had been turned off this week was to remove the old stage-four gearbox and replace it with an updated unit.
The new gearbox was being put into the five turbines now under construction for New Zealand Windfarms' Te Rere Hau wind farm near Palmerston North, he said.
McQueens Valley resident Julie Riley said the turbine was "certainly not getting any quieter".
"When it first started up, you could hear the wind -- it was just the `swish, swish' of the wind. But now you can hear the gearbox as well. `Grind, grind' is the noise of it. It's definitely over its 30 (decibels).
"It's worse when it's a northerly, (but) I hear it in a southerly. I hear it all the time."