Hi there
Thanks for publishing my letter last month, and thanks also for inviting me to comment in more detail on the major drawbacks with wind farms.
I want to make it clear that neither I nor anyone in the community at Ohariu Valley disputes the fact that modern economies need to increase their energy supplies. And neither is it disputed that the environmental impacts of carbon-producing energy sources pose a threat to the environment as a result of climate change. However, wind as a source of energy is not at all the straightforward solution that many people seem to believe it to be. I will return to this issue later, but first will explain the major reasons why our community has rallied to fight the Meridian proposal.
The first of these is the effect on the landscape. One of the main reasons that people choose to live in the countryside is of course the natural beauty of the rural environment. In the case of Ohariu Valley, the geography of the valley and its surrounds is mainly one of low rolling hills. The viewscapes, though perhaps somewhat plain and simple in relation to, say, the mountains of Westland, are nevertheless beautiful. It is extraordinarily restful to gaze out from one’s kitchen, deck or fields, and allow one’s eyes to rest on rows of hills, with their defined ridges and valleys, that stretch to the horizon. One cannot imagine any such pleasure once these hills are festooned with 115-metre high turbines, with their great rotating blades constantly in motion. A rural idyll is changed, essentially into a heaving industrial estate.
Second, there is noise. The silence that is often experienced in the countryside is precious – think of those nights when you’ve gone outside before retiring to bed, gazed up at the stars, and paused simply to relish the glorious, wonderful, enveloping silence.
For this very reason (I suspect), the power companies go to great lengths to convince affected communities that wind turbines are very quiet – “hardly noticeable above the background noise levels”.
Unfortunately (for the power co’s), there is no shortage of people living in close proximity to newly operating windfarms in this country, who are now available to testify first-hand to noise impacts. A resident whose property is adjacent to one of the new wind farms in the Manawatu spoke to the Ohariu residents group recently about his family’s experiences. He stated bluntly that the turbine noise threatens to drive him “round the bend”. After his ceaseless complaining, the power company went so far as to install double glazing in his house – but still the effects persist. A glass of water, sitting on the kitchen bench, shows ripples on the water’s surface, an effect of relentless vibration transmitted through both air and soil. This person acknowledged that he now faced a bleak choice: either acquiesce and adapt, or sell up and move.
Make no mistake: noise effects of windfarms can be severe and insidious. Meridian representatives acknowledged to me personally the truth in a story of a Manawatu farmer who was relocated from his home, at power company expense, because the noise of nearby turbines proved to be unendurable. In our valley, some residents will have direct line of sight to groups of turbines located less than a kilometre from their homes. One can only imagine these residents’ plight, at night in bed, when every one of those behemoths is grinding away with their incessant hissing, roaring and pulsing thumps.
Chronic, unwanted and unavoidable noise can have a soul-destroying effect on the psyche. As a clinical psychologist I once had a client who suffered from tinnitus, or a ringing in the ears. He came to me because he was deeply depressed by it, to the point where he was literally contemplating suicide. Something analogous to chronic tinnitus seems to be in store for anyone living within a five-kilometre radius of a windfarm. Is it any wonder then that the residents of our valley want to know why their peace and well-being should be destroyed, simply for the financial benefit of a few?
In relation to noise, I am aware also that studies published in medical journals have documented significant adverse health effects, related particularly to very low-frequency soundwaves, affecting those living in close proximity to wind turbines. These studies are being taken seriously by courts overseas in disputed applications for windfarm developments.
Thirdly, the construction of windfarms is a massive undertaking, involving huge machinery and plant, and occurring over a period of many months, even years. Major roading works are almost always necessary. One of Ohariu Valley’s most charming aspects is the long, narrow and winding (no-exit) lane that connects most of the valley properties. Barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass, residents routinely drop their driving speed to a crawl as they pass by riders and horses who frequent this locality. This delightful road however is to be swept away, and in its place a 10-metre wide carriageway built with most of the curves ironed out. It will result in the loss of many residents’ frontages, and the felling of 140-year old macrocarpa trees. For over 18 months, day and night, the valley will shudder with the vibrations of bulldozers, huge articulated trucks, concrete lorries, and contractors’ vehicles.
Support for windfarms is potentially very short-sighted. Important questions remain as to whether windfarms should at all be regarded as an appropriate response to climate change. The amount of concrete required to support each turbine is stupendous, and concrete construction is in and of itself a significant source of atmospheric carbon. Think also of those diesel-fume spewing lorries labouring up steep hillsides, laden with enormous machinery that has been transported all the way from the other side of the world in oil-powered ships.
One might also consider the recent case of biofuel, the advent of which was hailed by the supposedly ecologically aware as a cleaner, greener alternative to petroleum. How quickly that all changed: huge and unforeseen costs of this product havebecome apparent, not least of which is massive destruction of forests and habitats to allow plantings of convertible crops. Even as windfarms are being embraced here, courts in the UK and Europe are rejecting them on the grounds of their unacceptable environmental impact.
Windpower is an unreliable energy source, given its dependence on the fickleness of the wind. This means a need for back-up sources that can be turned on when wind flows drop. In many countries this problem has been “solved” by developing highly polluting gas or oil-fired power stations that run particularly inefficiently because of this intermittent, on-again/off-again pattern of use. The result – more, not less, emission of carbon.
There are other issues relating to cost. Wind power typically comes in fits and starts, as wind ebbs and flows. This means that massive surges of power enter the grid at random times. New Zealand’s electricity grid is not adequate to cope with this effect from the envisioned number of new wind farms; further expansion will demand massive and costly upgrades to the entire national grid, with resulting inflation of energy costs all round.
There is a great deal of evidence to support the contention that the power companies know full well that wind energy in New Zealandcan never be cost-effective. However, through the jiggery-pokery of Kyoto, internationally traded carbon credits from windfarmconstruction makes such ventures highly attractive financially to these companies. It is very distressing to think that the residents of communities such as ours are being sacrificed, and with no real benefit to the wider society as a whole, simply in order for SOEs like Meridian to make more profit.
For me, personally, the worst aspects of wind energy is the awful spectre of the beautiful landscapes of New Zealandgradually disappearing and being replaced, as I described above, by hulking industrial installations. Iconic sights, such as the vast open plains, hills and snow-capped mountains of the Mackenzie Country, and of Central Otago, are under threat. That precious sense, widely shared by most New Zealanders, of open, unspoiled and glorious space, is what we stand to lose.
Stop the windfarms!
