Abstract
Determining the spatial position of wind turbines is the initial and most important phase in the development of a wind farm project. In this sensitive phase, all potential problems that may arise in the later stages of project development should be prevented by means of spatial and urban planning instruments. This makes it possible to achieve maximum use of the potential of wind in a particular space and, thus, fulfil the technical and economic requirements of the project while respecting the goals of environmental protection in that same area, through preventive protection. Therefore, it is essential, even at the earliest planning and development stage of a wind farm project, for the requirements that are important for optimal spatial solutions to be balanced. In this process, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a support to the planning process and an invaluable instrument for finding optimal spatial solutions for the possible key spatial impacts of wind power with regard to noise, shadow flicker, ornithofauna and chiropterofauna. The weakness of SEA can be seen in its predominant application of expert qualitative methods that bring with them subjectivity, since they depend on expert knowledge and skills. This paper presents the aspect of noise impact assessment and its inclusion in the SEA for the Maestrale Ring wind farm in Serbia. The results of the research indicate how it is possible to achieve the principle of objectivity in the process of multicriteria expert evaluation by including the results of a partial impact assessment of the noise from wind farms, using results obtained from software modeling of the spatial dispersion of wind turbine noise in the SoundPlan 8.1 software package in the SEA process. These quantitative results predicting the noise level were used in a semi-quantitative method of multicriteria evaluation in the SEA through the definition of criteria to determine the ranking of impacts, which is elaborated in the paper. The results also show the significant of the contribution of applying a methodological approach based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods in SEA. These methods positively affect the application of the principle of preventive protection through the optimal selection of the number and position of wind turbines on one hand and the objectivity of drawing conclusions based on which strategic decisions are made in the final phase of the SEA process, on the other.
Highlights
The partial assessment of the increase in noise and its spatial dispersion as a consequence of the planned Maestrale Ring wind farm, shown in Figure 2, indicates that in the daytime period, none of the sensitive receptors will be exposed to noise levels exceeding the permitted value, which for the day and evening is 55 dB(A) for residential areas
The authors support the position that in order to increase objectivity in the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process, whenever possible, it is both desirable and significant to use simulation models that give quantitative results, even if this means a partial assessment for just one environmental element processed in SEA
The essence of the SEA process in Maestrale Ring wind farm planning is that after defining the initial positions of wind turbines based on wind potential, their final position is harmonized with the results of partial wind power impact assessments, which has been elaborated in this paper in relation to noise
Summary
Almost thirty years have passed since the introduction of SEA as an instrument for evaluating the consequences and impact of particular policies, plans and programs on the environment, with the purpose of ensuring that the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection are fully included in the earliest decision-making phase, on an equal footing with economic and social considerations [1] During this period, a large number of authors have written about the significance of applying SEA to timely and optimal decision making on key development issues, in which the focus is on the issue of environmental protection [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. SEA makes a significant contribution to the decision-making process with regard to the future development of a particular space [15] and it is an important instrument for implementing the concept of preventive protection [12]
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