2005 - Background

The urgent need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels is being met, in part, by the introduction of wind turbines, either singly or in multiple arrays, both onshore and offshore. At the present time there are nearly 70,000 turbines installed world-wide. Europe is leading in the development of wind-generating capacity, expected to rise from less than 30,000MW in 2003 to 75,000MW in 2010 and possibly 180,000MW in 2020.

Germany and Spain are currently the primary producer of wind power in Europe, with around 15,000MW of capacity. Denmark is the country which produces the greatest proportion of its energy requirements from wind and also dominates the global export market. The USA, which was the first commercial provider of wind energy, has fallen behind Europe and presently has about one fifth of the European generating capacity.

India, Australia, New Zealand, China and other countries are developing their wind generating capacity. China, which has become a large importer of fossil fuels, has the potential to install 170,000MW of wind power by 2020.

Development of onshore wind power brings wind turbines closer to habitation, leading to the possibility of noise problems, such that a frequent objection raised in planning procedures is that of noise and vibration.

This conference aims to bring together the latest information on noise and vibration from wind turbines to give an unbiased framework from within which future developments can be assessed.

The conference will also provide a venue for researchers on wind turbine noise and its effects to meet together and also meet with those who design wind turbine installations, both in industry and in the planning process.

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