Thirty years of North American research on public acceptance of wind energy has produced important insights, yet knowledge gaps remain. This review synthesizes the literature, revealing the following lessons learned. (1) North American support for wind has been consistently high. (2) The NIMBY explanation for resistance to wind development is invalid. (3) Socioeconomic impacts of wind development are strongly tied to acceptance. (4) Sound and visual impacts of wind facilities are strongly tied to annoyance and opposition, and ignoring these concerns can exacerbate conflict. (5) Environmental concerns matter, though less than other factors, and these concerns can both help and hinder wind development. (6) Issues of fairness, participation, and trust during the development process influence acceptance. (7) Distance from turbines affects other explanatory variables, but alone its influence is unclear. (8) Viewing opposition as something to be overcome prevents meaningful understandings and implementation of best practices. (9) Implementation of research findings into practice has been limited. The paper also identifies areas for future research on wind acceptance. With continued research efforts and a commitment toward implementing research findings into developer and policymaker practice, conflict and perceived injustices around proposed and existing wind energy facilities might be significantly lessened.

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Thirty years of North American wind energy acceptance research: What have we learned?

The strengthening of electric energy security and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have gained enormous momentum in previous decades. The integration of large-scale intermittent renewable energy resources (RER) like wind energy into the existing electricity grids has increased significantly in the last decade. However, this integration poses many operational and control challenges that hamper the reliable and stable operation of the grids. This article aims to review the reported challenges caused by the integration of wind energy and the proposed solutions methodologies. Among the various challenges, the generation uncertainty, power quality issues, angular and voltage stability, reactive power support, and fault ride-through capability are reviewed and discussed. Besides, socioeconomic, environmental, and electricity market challenges due to the grid integration of wind power are also investigated. Many of the solutions used and proposed to mitigate the impact of these challenges, such as energy storage systems, wind energy policy, and grid codes, are also reviewed and discussed. This paper will assist the enthusiastic readers in seeing the full picture of wind energy integration challenges. It also puts in the hands of policymakers all aspects of the challenges so that they can adopt sustainable policies that support and overcome the difficulties facing the integration of wind energy into electricity grids.

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Grid Integration Challenges of Wind Energy: A Review

Health Canada, in collaboration with Statistics Canada, and other external experts, conducted the Community Noise and Health Study to better understand the impacts of wind turbine noise (WTN) on health and well-being. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out between May and September 2013 in southwestern Ontario and Prince Edward Island on 1238 randomly selected participants (606 males, 632 females) aged 18-79 years, living between 0.25 and 11.22 km from operational wind turbines. Calculated outdoor WTN levels at the dwelling reached 46 dBA. Response rate was 78.9% and did not significantly differ across sample strata. Self-reported health effects (e.g., migraines, tinnitus, dizziness, etc.), sleep disturbance, sleep disorders, quality of life, and perceived stress were not related to WTN levels. Visual and auditory perception of wind turbines as reported by respondents increased significantly with increasing WTN levels as did high annoyance toward several wind turbine features, including the following: noise, blinking lights, shadow flicker, visual impacts, and vibrations. Concern for physical safety and closing bedroom windows to reduce WTN during sleep also increased with increasing WTN levels. Other sample characteristics are discussed in relation to WTN levels. Beyond annoyance, results do not support an association between exposure to WTN up to 46 dBA and the evaluated health-related endpoints.

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Exposure to wind turbine noise: Perceptual responses and reported health effects.

Exposure to road traffic noise: Annoyance, perception and associated factors among Brazil's adult population

Pakistan has sufficient wind energy potential across various locations of the country. However, so far, wind energy development has not attained sufficient momentum matching its potential. Amongst various other challenges, the site selection for wind power development has always been a primary concern of the decision-makers. Principally, wind project site selection decisions are driven by various multifaceted criteria. As such, in this study, a robust research framework comprising of factor analysis (FA) of techno-economic and socio-political factors, and a hybrid analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) have been used for the prioritization of sites in the southeastern region of Pakistan. The results of this study reveal economic and land acquisition as the most significant criteria and sub-criteria, respectively. From the eight different sites considered, Jamshoro has been prioritized as the most suitable location for wind project development followed by Hyderabad, Nooriabad, Gharo, Keti Bandar, Shahbandar, Sajawal, and Talhar. This study provides a comprehensive decision support framework comprising of FA and a hybrid AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS for the systematic analysis to prioritize suitable sites for the wind project development in Pakistan.

The selection of wind power project location in the Southeastern Corridor of Pakistan: A factor analysis, AHP, and fuzzy-TOPSIS application

Over recent decades there have been some clear achievements in the acknowledgement of the importance of addressing noise in the community. The focus has been on the major noise sources associated with transportation and industry that globally affect the larger number of people. The publication of guidelines for noise level limits and for establishing noise control policies and approaches to noise management provides a good basis for further applications. This paper discusses some of the successes and also some of the remaining challenges in developing and adopting the most appropriate noise management and control policies.

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Self-reported and objectively measured health indicators among a sample of Canadians living within the vicinity of industrial wind turbines: Social survey and sound level modelling methodology

D'Arcy McGuire

Papers

Exposure to wind turbine noise: Perceptual responses and reported health effects.

Self-reported and objectively measured health indicators among a sample of Canadians living within the vicinity of industrial wind turbines: Social survey and sound level modelling methodology

Erratum: Exposure to wind turbine noise: Perceptual responses and reported health effects [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 139(3), 1443–1454 (2016)]