More Wind Turbine Myths

There are many myths surrounding wind turbines some of which border on maliciousness and some sound
out right stupid! We had a look at some on a previous occasion and there are so many that we have to continue the
discussion a bit further I guess!

Ireland is blessed with good wind all year round. And this source of perennial energy is renewable and does not
require any petroleum based fuel. If adequate wind turbine generated power is available, Ireland will be thankfully
out of the grip of oil sheiks and the oil tycoons. It is no secret that past few months was a period of X’mas in
advance for all of them! It is however not clear whether the myths cited below are” by products of oil production”!

• Myth: wind turbines are noisy Juggernauts! - Not at all! True there was a time the noise was a serious consideration .
  Current Blade designs incorporate advanced features which make some domestic and small industrial units are no noisier
  than a window air conditioner. (One can unreservedly say it is slightly noisier than a bedroom!)

On the other hand the larger capacity units will naturally have larger turbine blades and noisy.
These would generally be installed in wind farms in isolated lands and noise will only be classified as an issue to be looked in to, last!
At approximately 300m it is no noisier than your home refrigerator.
Come to think of it how silent are the megawatt generators in urban power houses with inherent other pollution issues?

• Myth: wind turbines interfere with TV and other Electromagnetic signals! - Partly true! However this happens only when the wind turbine is directly in line of sight with the source of transmission. Modern installation practice normally has relay stations to circumvent the wind farms.
• Myth: Wind farms use excessive lighting! - This is true to a certain extent. But it is a requirement of the Aviation Administration for aviation safety. It is said if a structure is 60 m or more it has to be illuminated. (It is not unique to Wind Turbines!) However the wind turbine lights are being made more and more non intrusive and expected to be improved further in future.
• Myth: Annoying Shadow Flicker will occur! - This can happen, though rare, but however can be precisely worked out and be almost eliminated by setback and planting trees around a house.  The cause is the wind turbine blades coming between the sun and a dwelling. For this the angle of sun also must be low.

And another thing is that the occurrence may be for a short duration and that too on a few days of the year only.
The Wind Storms off Atlantic Ocean can present very high velocities (One freak storm in 1997 recorded a velocity of 42 m/s).


Theoretically the higher the velocity bigger will be the power generated. (Certainly not at 42 m/s! The higher limit is generally set
around 25 m/s after which the wind turbine will be disconnected).


The period between October and February is quite windy reaching a crescendo around mid winter,
a period with high energy demands . If properly harnessed each home’s dependence on the grid
supply may be reduced by at least 30% which when you covert to Euros will be quite a saving!

We supply and install wind turbines.
We have a range of wind turbines on offer, please click here.