We have several wind farms near us. One is proposed just a few kilometers away. It's to be the largest, both in number of turbines and in individual heights of the turbines, in the Southern hemisphere. Our thinking is that we need to ask lots of questions and study all the information available.
A few points for consideration when looking at this type of wind power are:
1. Bird kills. We need to know how the dead birds are counted allowing for predation by other birds and animals. Dead birds last only a few hours in fox country.
2. Butterflies and bats need to be considered.
3. The effect of drying out of the ground under the turbines. Not a good idea in dry country.
4. Lightning strikes are common. How will that be in bushfire prone areas.
5. Noise may not seem a problem if it's compared with other background noise like traffic -- BUT wind farms are typically placed in rural areas where there is now no background noise. We need to listen to people with wind-farms nearby.
Cheers, Joy