The first case of acknowledging mental damage to low-frequency damage
Noise is generated from 40m above the ground, propagation distance is long
138 million won for 163 people… 840,000 won per household
Will it affect the establishment of the separation distance standard? Interest is focused
For the first time, the decision of the Central Environmental Dispute Mediation Committee has come out that if the surrounding residents suffer mental damage from low-frequency noise generated when a wind power generator is operating, ‘the cause of it must be compensated.’
The Ministry of Environment announced on the 6th that the Central Environmental Dispute Mediation Committee has decided to acknowledge the damage and pay 138 million won in compensation for a case where residents who have suffered mental damage from the low-frequency noise of a wind power generator recently applied for compensation against the wind power generator operator. The Central Environmental Dispute Mediation Committee is an institution that handles disputes related to environmental damage and installation and management of environmental facilities in accordance with the Environmental Dispute Mediation Act.
The first recognition of ‘mental compensation’ for noise damage from wind power generation
The applicants are 163 residents living in two villages located in Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do, and most have lived in the villages for 30 to 40 years.
Construction of wind power generators (35 units in total) started near the village in 2017, and complaints about low-frequency noise began to be filed during the test operation in September 2018. After that, as commercial operation began in January 2019 and the wind power generator started operating in earnest, complaints surged.
In the end, the residents demanded a total of 244.5 million won in damages, claiming that they suffered psychological damage from January 2019, when the commercial operation of the wind turbine began to the end of 2020. On the other hand, the respondent, the operating entity, argued that it was not liable for compensation because it paid local power generation funds to resident representatives before the construction of the wind turbine and at the beginning of commercial operation.
On the 19th of last month, the committee made a decision to compensate for the damage and supported the residents.
The committee first measured the low-frequency noise level of wind power generators in the villages of the applicants from December 10 to 7 last year through the service of noise experts. According to the results of the actual survey, the committee judged that the damage caused by low-frequency noise in both villages exceeded the limit and caused psychological damage.
In particular, the respondent did not accept the recommendation that the wind power generator should be installed as far as possible from the residential area by 1.5 km or more, presented by the Ministry of Environment’s environmental impact assessment consultation opinion (June 2016), and some wind power generators were The fact that it was built close to the village (about 300~500m) was also considered.
However, considering that the respondent paid the local power generation fund to residents before the construction of the wind turbine and at the start of commercial operation, 40-50% of the compensation amount was reduced.
“Wind power generators are a clean energy source that needs to be gradually expanded, but it is necessary to minimize damage from low-frequency noise by securing sufficient separation distance from nearby private houses,” said Chairman Shin Jin-soo.
Onshore wind power generation, will separation distance standards be strengthened?
The noise generated by wind power generation facilities has a characteristic that it is generated more than 40m from the ground. For this reason, experts explain that the ‘radius of impact’ is larger than the noise of vehicles or railroads generated near the ground. In particular, low-frequency sound has a large wavelength and is propagated over a wide area.
Some voices are calling for the establishment of standards for the separation distance (distance between residence and wind turbines) of wind turbines. However, opinions are divided on the regulatory standards.
In January, the Korea Energy Agency held a ‘Renewable Energy Resident Participation Program Improvement Plan’ to institutionalize the separation distance between wind power and solar power, which was only stipulated by local government ordinances. Among the 226 basic local governments nationwide, 53 local governments have defined the separation distance for wind power.
In the research service of ‘Measures to improve local government separation distance regulations’ announced at this meeting, it was recommended that “onshore wind power should be limited to a maximum of 500-1000m from residential areas and within 500m from roads.”
It is also known that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is planning to prepare regulations to standardize different wind power separation distance regulations for each local government.
According to the ‘Vision and Strategy for a Great Transformation to Carbon Neutrality in Industry and Energy’ announced jointly by the government departments on December 10 last year, △Residential area (No. 1 or more) 1km △Public facilities 500m, etc. standards are being reviewed.
The wind power industry is of the view that if a uniform regulation regardless of local regional characteristics is applied, it may cause side effects and should be relaxed. He also argues that an exception is necessary for projects that have obtained resident consent through compensation equivalent to relocation.
On the other hand, there are strong opposition from environmental groups and local residents where wind power plants are installed. It is also burdensome that research conducted by domestic and foreign organizations also recommends maintaining a separation distance of at least 1.5 km between residential areas and onshore wind power plants for reasons such as infringement of the right to sunlight or noise. The fact that the committee used the ‘1.5km separation distance according to the environmental impact assessment consultation opinion of the Ministry of Environment’ as a standard in this compensation decision can also be an important basis.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has announced that it will hold a public hearing soon and prepare final guidelines regarding the establishment of separation distance rules for wind power and solar power, but the schedule has not been set.
By Kwak Yong-hee, staff reporter [email protected]