NZ High Court Upholds Environment Court Decision – Noise Predictions “Wildly Incorrect”
The High Court of New Zealand upheld a decision by the Environment Court that developer NZ Windfarms Limited had significantly under-predicted actual noise generation characteristics of its turbines and noise impact on surrounding residents from its Te Rere Hau development. June 20, 2013
The decision relates to specifically built wind turbines, for which only one prototype was constructed and measured. With 65 of the 97 consented wind turbines built and operating, the NZ Environment Court found that the Te Rere Hau wind farm was acoustically far more problematic than surrounding land owners had been led to believe during the consent hearings. Indeed the developer’s noise prediction was described by the Environment Court as “wildly incorrect”.