Ministerial guidelines
Wind Energy Development Guidelines
Siting, design, noise and shadow flicker for wind farms. A revised draft was published for consultation in 2019.
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government · June 2006 · 119 pages
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- 65 Planning Guidelines 5(e) Wind energy development located in harmonious visual relationship to a town and rural buildings - white turbines relate to the colour of the buildings of the urban centre as well as to the houses and farmsteads scattered across the countryside.
- 6.9.6 Coastal Zone Key characteristics of this landscape are: • Beaches, dunes, rocks, promontories and/or cliffs; • High rocky crags may have scrub, heather, bracken and gorse as land cover, whereas flatter areas are more likely to comprise farmland; • Seashores can also include harbours, hamlets, villages and towns and some of these may have developed into seaside holiday resorts; and • This landscape type involves openness, nature and recreation and thus may be sensitive. Coastal landscapes identified through sensitivity analysis, as being of rare scenic quality may not be appropriate for wind energy development. The essential key here is one of simplicity and rational order. The juncture of land and sea is extremely attractive to the eye. Its linearity or, perhaps more likely, curvilinearity creates a strong aesthetic contrast with the planar quality of the sea in geometric terms. Both are, nevertheless, essentially simple and elemental. Rather than inhibiting the introduction of a wind energy development, the associations and symbolism of the seashore challenge the wind energy development design to achieve aesthetic excellence. The simplicity of many coastlines prompts a corresponding simplicity regarding the introduction of wind energy developments. Siting and design guidance for coastal areas Location Wind energy developments should be set back from the sea and clearly located on solid ground. They are suited to low beach shorelines as well as rocky promontories. Spatial extent This depends on the length of shoreline. In order to achieve simplicity, a wind energy development should not extend beyond one particular kind of shore. Accordingly, it should physically relate to a beach or a rocky promontory but not bridge the two. 66lanning Guidelines
- Spacing Regular turbine spacing would be most appropriate in order to achieve a serenity and composure that reflect those of the sea. A promontory could be used to achieve a dramatic aesthetic effect using graded spacing with the gradual tightening occurring seawards. 6(a) Wind energy development with irregular spacing and linear layout on coastal promontory - visual disorder is created by variation in spacing and hub height (wind energy development profile) which is inappropriate to the simplicity of the landscape / seascape context. 6(b) Wind energy development with regular spacing and linear layout on coastal promontory - the simplicity and rhythm created by rhythmic spacing and level profile are appropriate to the simplicity of the landscape / seascape context. Layout Wind energy developments should reflect the linearity of the shore by a corresponding linear or staggered linear layout. However, on a headland with a peak or hill, a clustered layout might be used to crown and thus accentuate the feature. 67
- 6(c) Wind energy development with the irregularity of spacing is disjointed and creates visual disharmony on this simple curving coastline. 6(d) Wind energy development with simplicity involving regular spacing, a linear layout and level profile is usually preferable. 68
- 6(e) Graduated spacing and linear layout on coastal promontory - the increasingly closer spacing of turbines draws emphasis to the tip of the promontory and its connection to the sea. 6(f) Clustered layout on end of promontory - this layout too accentuates and celebrates the end of the promontory and its interface with the sea. Height Turbines can generally be tall, especially close to and parallel to beaches. More caution might be necessary in regard to promontories where the scale of the projecting land mass should be considered. The profile should be even in response to the flatness of the sea. Cumulative effect Generally along any length of shoreline one wind energy development can be visible in the fore or middle ground. A second one may be acceptable in the far distant background, provided it is only dimly visible under normal atmospheric conditions in order to preserve the spatial, scenic and thematic integrity of the shore. The principle objective is to ensure that multiple wind energy developments are not visible in close proximity from any one seaside location due to their generally sensitive nature. 69
- 6.10 Landscape Impact of Wind Energy Development Construction The process of construction can result in adverse landscape and visual impact due to, for example, temporary structures and materials on site, alterations to drainage, dust, ground compaction, excavation, road construction, soil erosion and mineral leaching, as well as traffic movement. To help alleviate these impacts, the following practices should be adhered to as closely as possible: • Site offices, workers’ hut and toilets, materials and site compound should ideally be sited so as to minimise visual exposure, bearing in mind operational effectiveness from a construction and site management perspective, and landscape conditions. They should be removed when the wind energy development is constructed; • Construction traffic and machinery movement should be confined as much as is practicable to the roads and tracks that are part of the long-term development in order to minimise unnecessary compaction; • Where temporary earth works are required, ground and vegetation should be reinstated as soon as possible; • The site should be kept tidy and construction rubbish should be neatly contained; • Cement trucks should not be washed on site where there is a risk of run-off and damage to flora and watercourses; • The spread of dust on surrounding vegetation should be minimised - where heavy and visible in sensitive landscapes it should be removed by spraying with water after construction is complete; • The dispensing of fuel and oil tanks should be confined to one bounded location in order to minimise the risk of damage by spillage; and 70lanning Guidelines
- Planning Guidelines • Where possible, after construction is completed, vegetation should be reinstated on banks and margins of roads that are constructed to accommodate the passage of construction machinery and trucks. This is especially critical where cut and fill has been required. 6.11 Landscape Impacts of Associated Development The elements associated with wind energy developments other than turbines include the roads and tracks, power poles and lines, the control building, the wind measuring mast and the compound. Individually and collectively, these elements should be considered, located and designed to respect the character of surrounding landscape. 6.11.1 Control Building and Substation Compound • A high standard of design should be applied to all structures associated with the substation, and should not only take account of its function but also of its aesthetic quality, in order to minimise any sense of intrusion. • The development should incorporate colour harmony and adequate screening of the control building and substation compound. Should the surrounding landscape include trees and/or shrubs, such material can be used for screening. In sensitive landscapes, consideration should be given to screening the control buildings and compound by earth berms as well as re-sodding with local vegetation in order to mitigate their visual impact. • The control building, where practicable, should be located in a dip or a hollow but away from ecologically sensitive areas or features. In the case of coastal locations it should not be located on promontories, unless comprising a special design appropriate to the setting. • Control buildings should be designed to respect the character of buildings typically found in the surrounding landscape. 71
- • Urban/industrial contexts could also accommodate building design, which corresponds more specifically to the contiguous building(s). 6.11.2 Fencing • Fencing should be limited to the substation compound area. • Chain link is preferred over palisade fencing as it is more transparent. • Fencing should not encompass the entire wind energy development, as this would unnecessarily compromise access to the countryside as well as the sense of simplicity intrinsic to the aesthetic quality of turbines. Extensive areas of fenced ground would also limit grazing which could result in variations in the colour of vegetation. • Temporary fencing (e.g., electric fencing) may be required to keep grazing animals off bare soils while vegetation cover re-establishes or scraghs root in. • Consideration should be given on Mountain Moorland hilltops to creating a curvilinear shape for the compound as defined by fencing, as the more conventional rectilinear shape may jar with the openness and sense of the open natural setting. 72lanning Guidelines Fig 28: Visually exposed control building and angular compound draw attention to the wind energy development while creating visual disharmony. Fig 29: Screened/partially screened control building and rounded shape of compound is more sympathetic to the landscape.
- Planning Guidelines 6.11.3 Connection to Electricity Providers • Power line connections between turbines and from turbines to the control building should be underground. • Power lines should be interred alongside turbine access roads in order to minimise spatial extent of soil/hydrological and vegetation damage/ disturbance. • The cost of underground connection from the compound to the national grid is generally prohibitive. This connection can thus be above ground in all but the most sensitive landscapes. • In certain landscapes, such as highly sensitive Mountain Moorland, consideration should be given to burying the cables until such a distance as the poles and cables would be visually acceptable, for example, where other power lines exist. • In order to reduce visual impact, connections should preferably be carried on wooden poles rather than lattice towers, except where necessary for changes in direction and within the compound. • Power line connections to the grid should, where possible, avoid running perpendicular to contours, especially on Mountain Moorland slopes. Where practicable, it should not cross the horizon at ridge level unless a line already exists. Where passing through a forest, power line connections should follow existing firebreaks or roads. In landscape types where human presence and rectilinear landscape patterns are typical, power line layout can be more flexible. 6.11.4 Roads/Tracks The impact of access routes on landscape can be minimised by sensitive routing and design. 73
- • The number and extent of roads/tracks serving the site should be kept to a minimum. Access routes should utilise existing roads where possible. • Access roads/tracks should relate to key characteristics of landscape, e.g., the roads should not follow a straight line up a Mountain Moorland slope directly to the wind energy development, but rather a diagonal line following the contours. Sensitive areas such as archaeological sites should be avoided as far as possible while important features such as streams should be properly bridged or culverted. • The colour of road material should be such as to minimise contrast with the surrounding landcover. Crushed stone sourced locally is preferable. • Access tracks should be properly landscaped immediately following completion of works and damage to existing hedgerows from transporting the turbines should be made good. • Cut and fill required for road construction should be roughly balanced in order to minimise the need for soil removal from the site. Surfaces resulting from cut and fill should consist of material that is conducive to the successful reestablishment of local vegetation. • Disturbed soil, whether cut banks or deposited soil, should be re-seeded or re-sodded to match surrounding conditions in sensitive landscapes. Re-sodding is essential on upland and lowland peatlands, and all other upland sites, as reseeding is likely to be unsuccessful and exposed peat is liable to erode. Non-development site vegetation should not be introduced on semi-natural sites such as peatlands. 74lanning Guidelines
Source Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Wind Energy Development Guidelines (June 2006) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.