Anyone live near the wind turbine at DKIT?

hymanyman

hey,

a factory down in Tipp are going to look for planning permission to erect a 2.3 MW wind turbine close to their plant, 80 metres in height, ignoring the blades...monster of a yolk! it will be about 450 metres to the nearest house...

...does anyone know if noise complaints have been made by folks living near the wind turbine in Dundalk? can't see much online about it...only corporate spiel!

cheers

Nesta99

Never heard it at all tbh or at least never really noticed at both living in the vicinity and while being a student at DKIT and having clases practically under it (and training sessions on the pitches beside it). Bit of a 'swish' sound maybe but no more disruptive than say a car passing your house.

I live about 500m away from one in Limerick. At night you can sometimes here it swish but only outside with no traffic. The only way you could hear it inside a house is if it fell over.

Friend of mine used to live nearby, Google Earth says it's 430m away and it was audible from outside the house maybe 20-30% of the time at night. Could never hear it from inside the house.

insignia33

I strongly opposed the one at DKIT when it was been built because I was one of the closest houses to it. I tried my damnedest to block them every step of the way. But looking back it was foolish. I was reading all these reports online with people saying it can cause havoc with tv signals, its noisy, people living around turbines are more inclined to have heart attacks due to the stress etc but honestly after it was built I didn't even notice it.

If the windows are opened wide and you had the television/radio switched off you will just about hear a very faint "whoosh" sound from it. Its really not worth getting yourself in a twist over it.



Googlemaps says theres about 350 meter distance from the house to the turbine.

Irishmale0399

Just found this thread an had to laugh as i read it. I must admit i personally dont live in Dundalk anymore nor have i done so for many years, however my mother did live on the Dublin Road as it was being built and like Insignia33 she opposed it from day one. She oposed it so much that she move house, something she realised very quickly was a mistake for her personally.
Now I have been working for one of Germanys top 3 utility companys for a few years now, our main forcus over the last 5-6 years has been renewables, mostly wind & solar.
Well now to get to the point i want to make. Having read all the polution (sound, visual...) reports that goes with turbines I would be more worried if i was close to a main road or close to railway lines. As sound goes, roads or railway lines are much louder, as for potential illness related to the devices......what should make you sick???? I would be more worried about the particulate matter coming out the back of our cars and lorrys(if you live on a busy road, you will know what i mean when you clean your windows) or radiation coming off the high voltage power lines. Personally i also find high voltage power lines a bigger eye-sore than the wind turbines..

longhalloween

Only annoying thing about the DKIT turbine is the shadow the blades cast on sunny days, especially if I'm trying to concentrate in class :P

I've never heard any noise from it though.

CarrickMcJoe

insignia33 wrote: »

I strongly opposed the one at DKIT when it was been built because I was one of the closest houses to it. I tried my damnedest to block them every step of the way. But looking back it was foolish. I was reading all these reports online with people saying it can cause havoc with tv signals, its noisy, people living around turbines are more inclined to have heart attacks due to the stress etc but honestly after it was built I didn't even notice it.

If the windows are opened wide and you had the television/radio switched off you will just about hear a very faint "whoosh" sound from it. Its really not worth getting yourself in a twist over it.



Googlemaps says theres about 350 meter distance from the house to the turbine.

And now it's so easy giving people directions to your house

Nesta99

Seems like there is a significant fear of the unknown or is it simply a lack of trust in planning authorities that have people afraid of being shafted?

Off the top of my head a few projects that were proposed, rejected and passed....

Ski Slope et al at racecourse,
Factory outlets that were proposed before the disasterous apartment complex at Carroll Village, at the now dead North end of town!
Access to M1 from Armagh Rd for facility at Park Inn Hotel
Retail Outlets also at racecourse
One way or loop system for Clanbrassil St increasing level of pedestrianisation with a view to future bus/tram access only.
Concert Arena on Armagh rd see Park Inn
McDonalds/KFC drive through at Mourneview.
Garden Centre at Mourneview
One i forgot, raising the Longwalk SC to 2 stories as an alternative to Carroll Village (opposing developers, one won, one lost)

The above were challanged and blocked, for good or bad is for the individual -before and in retrospect i'd certainly have the factory outlet on the site of the original Carrolls factory and would still like to see the ski slope. Garden Centre at Mourneview i'm told was fears over noise??? That would have been a nice spot to have an urban garden centre.

Serious attempts to block

Southern Link Rd - Dundalk South exit from M1. (or moreso to move it in a 'not in my back yard' way). Lots of lobbying from the IFA and i dont mean the Northern Irish soccer lads.
Dundalk Retail Park (Kill the town centre)
Marshes (Kill Clanbrassil St-though plans for additional streets scapes through Williamsons Mall allayed this to an extent)
Changes to road layout of new square (negative impact on passing trade).
Crowne Plaza (spoil the Dundalk Skyline)
Racecourse revamp - (please somebody think of the animals!!) potential for holding larger events eg concerts were an issue.
Demolition of Bridge at St Alpohonsus rd (local sentiment)
Pending new Tesco (kill the town centre)
Xerox (issues of it being railroaded in without full public consultation and ancillary developments like ESB supply transformer complex in same area)
DKIT Wind Generator (seems it was simply scaremongering causing fear...and probably by those most afraid of a growth in a trend toward renewable sources of energy - lets nip it in the bud before they find geunine alternative).

Indeed many of the projects blocked, the objections were obviously from rival groups, those with a vested interest in another area failing to develop attractions eg the Carrolls factory outlet had objections from as far as Mullingar, and those afraid of the impact developments may have - I myself believe that a good number of the projects may have enhanced trade for those fearful business owners and could have insulated us from the whole impact of the bocht economy!

Developments that went ahead and still baffle me

Carrolls Shopping centre and carrolls village entirely - at least have had the entrance/facade on Clanbrassill St rather than the apartments???
Every housing development granted such alleged easy permission over the last 10-15yrs, in particular those in flood plains like along the Castletown River, or potential flood plains like certain parts of Dundalk Rd out of Blackrock, behind retail park area.
Every other estate that was built even when it was obvious there was nobody left to sell to??
Many of the high density apartment complexes that now just seem to be used as bases for ..erm other leisure activities. If that the future of the Brewery complex i shall be out protesting myself.
Im sure other members of the forum would have examples beyond the time scope im talking about too!

Apologies for such off topic post i was just in the mood for a rant - tough day at work!!

insignia33

Nesta99 wrote: »

Garden Centre at Mourneview i'm told was fears over noise??? That would have been a nice spot to have an urban garden centre.

That doesnt make any sense at all. When I lived on the Dublin road I was fairly close to the Dundalk Garden Center. Actually I was closer to the garden center then I was to the turbine, and there was never any noise from them

BTW... who was it that protested the ski slope and why? I cant help but wonder was it someone with vested interests. Literally, I cant think of any reason why the average person in the street would have objected to it. Matter of fact, everybody I talked to about it were excited about the idea.

Nesta99

That garden centre was about 1994 so im not 100% but my dad was saying that the local residents were concerned about noise from machinery, general footfall in that area, disruption as place was built. He is usually correct on these things too, but before a time i would have taken note.

The altitude development was accepted by Louth Local Authorities so further objections were made to An Bord Planeala by An Taisce and a number of other individuals (whatever their motivation was could be conservation or could be in hope of the development moving elsewhere if it isnt built in dundalk, for example when the soccerdome and ice rink were proposed there was ridiculous amount of lobbying from the likes of Sport Campus Ireland to go there, the Dublin centric Sports Council also had a pop).