Miljø- og Fødevareudvalget 2015-16
MOF Alm.del Bilag 343
Offentligt
8 March 2016
The National Institute of Public Health–National Institute of Hygiene’s
Position on Wind Farms
The National Institute of Public Health–National Institute of Hygiene holds the view that
wind farms sited too close to buildings intended for permanent human residence may have
an adverse impact on the quality of life and on health of residents living in the proximity of
wind farms.
The Institute’s position takes into account the following risk factors relating to human
health:
the level of emitted noise and how it relates to the technical parameters of wind
turbines, wind speeds, natural topography and land use practices around wind
farms;
the level of aerodynamic noise including emissions of infrasound and its low-
frequency components;
characteristics of emitted noise including its modulation/pulsation/tonality as well as
any potential interference of waves emitted by multiple turbines,
risk of ice fragments coming off rotors,
risk of turbine failures consisting in broken off rotor blades or blade fragments falling
to the ground,
the presence of shadow flicker,
the level of electromagnetic radiation (in the immediate vicinity of wind turbines),
the likelihood of sleep disruption and noise propagation at night-time,
nuisance level and the likelihood of stress and depression symptoms (due to long-
term exposure) related to both noise emissions and non-acceptance of the noise
source.
It is the Institute’s opinion, the legal provisions currently in force in Poland (which in practice
cover only one risk factor, i.e. noise levels) are not only inappropriate for such structures as
wind turbines, but also fail to provide sufficient guarantees that public health is protected.
The currently used methodology to assess impacts of wind farms on the environment
(including human health) cannot be applied at wind speeds above 5 m/sec. Moreover, the
 MOF, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 343: Henvendelse af 15/3-16 fra Greta Gallandy-Jakobsen om polske sundhedsmyndigheder har en ny anbefaling for vindmøller
full frequency spectrum (especially at lower frequencies) and nuisance levels are not
considered.
In the opinion of the Institute, in view of the current lack of comprehensive legal regulations
for assessments of health risks related to the operation of wind farms in Poland, it is urgent
to develop and implement a comprehensive methodology on the basis of which distances of
wind turbines from residences could be established indirectly. Such methodology must take
into account all the above-listed potential risk factors, and the result should reflect the worst
case scenario. Aside from natural topography and land use, the methodology needs to make
allowance for wind turbines’ kind, type, height and number as well as the existence of other
wind farms in the vicinity. Such legal frameworks, intended to deliver multi-criteria
assessments and making use of complex numerical algorithms, are currently in place
worldwide.
The Institute recognizes that it may prove very difficult to develop that algorithm at short
notice, given the diversity of factors and the complexity of the algorithm . For this reason, it
appears that an effective and simpler solution is to adopt a minimum distance of wind
turbines from buildings intended for permanent human residence. The setback criteria are
also a common normative solution.
Accordingly, as long as the comprehensive methodology for assessing impacts of industrial
wind farms on human health has not been finalised, the Institute
recommends 2 km
as the
minimum distance between wind turbines and buildings. The recommended distance follows
from
a critical review of research results published in peer-reviewed journals
regarding all
potential risk factors for average distances that are in most cases stated within the following
ranges:
0.5-0.7 km, often obtained by calculations, for noise levels (dBA) falling within the
currently applicable permissible values (without taking into account any corrections
for pulsating/tonal/modulated characteristics of emitted noise),
1.5-3.0 km, based on the noise level when modulations and low frequencies as well
as infrasound are taken into account,
0.5-1.4 km, relating to the risk of wind turbine failure, consisting in broken off rotor
blades or blade fragments falling to the ground (depending on the fragment size,
fragment flight characteristics, rotor speed, and the size and kind of a wind turbine),
 MOF, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 343: Henvendelse af 15/3-16 fra Greta Gallandy-Jakobsen om polske sundhedsmyndigheder har en ny anbefaling for vindmøller
0.5-0.8 km, wherever there is the risk of ice fragments coming off rotors (depending
on ice formation and weight, rotor speed, and the size and kind of a wind turbine),
1.0-1.6 km, taking into account noise nuisance (4% to 35% of the population for noise
levels at 30-45 dBA) for people residing in the proximity of wind farms,
2.0 km, related to the potential psychological effects resulting from significant
landscape alterations (assuming the case when a wind turbine has the predominant
impact on the landscape and the rotor’s rotations are clearly visible and perceived by
people from each location),
1.2-2.1 km, with regard to the presence of shadow flicker (for average total heights
of wind turbines, including the rotor, in Poland - from 120 to 210 m).
In formulating the above opinions, the Institute has also considered the setbacks of wind
turbines from buildings recommended by experts, researchers and government and
municipal authority agencies worldwide (in most cases falling within the range of 1.0 to 5.0
km).