TNEI Services has developed their own method of modelling and assessing turbine noise which takes account of wind shear at individual wind farm sites. The method is founded on bespoke software designed in-house by TNEI’s noise experts in conjunction with colleagues in the Wind Resource Assessment team.

Wind shear is the relationship between wind speed at different heights above the ground, and in particular between the ground and hub-height of a wind turbine. This can vary depending on surrounding terrain, time of day and season. When assessing the noise emissions from a turbine, the noise team calculate wind shear using on-site measured wind mast data. TNEI’s wind shear model incorporates recent industry guidance and adds significant value by using detailed site-specific large wind mast data, already used to predict annual energy production for wind farm financing. The influence of topographic, diurnal and seasonal effects on wind shear are also fully considered. TNEI’s noise experts have worked closely with members of the wind resource team to develop the new software models.