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Wind turbine manufacturer admits liability for noise damage. If word gets out…

Wind turbines made by Enercon which admits liability for noise damage

These are Enercon wind turbines in Germany, Lower Saxony. Image: Philip May

This could be a watershed — if word gets out that turbine manufacturers will not even contest claims of noise damage, there could be many more claims around the world. There are rumors these cases are often settled out of court with confidentiality agreements, but who would know?

In an update to the Irish court case we discussed last month, the latest news confirms that the wind turbine manufacturer has admitted liability without contesting it. The court will be deciding damages in April. As I deduced at the time, the wind industry was using desperate wordsmithing to minimize attention on the story. The news item related to it even disappeared from the Irish Examiner.  The turbine industry must be hoping no one notices this story.

Stop These Things has an update:

Wind company admits nuisance damage to neighbours
Irish Farmers Journal
Paul Mooney
5 January 2017

High Court to determine compensation for seven families in April hearing.

A County Cork based wind energy company has accepted in the High Court that its wind farm has caused nuisance damage to seven neighbouring families. The High Court has now set aside ten days in April 2017 to determine what if any damages should be paid by the company to the families.

The Farmers Journal understands that the cases taken by the families claim that the wind farm caused them nuisance as a result of excessive noise. The wind company is Enercon Wind Farm Services Ireland Ltd and it formally admitted liability to the Court.

Irish Farmers Journal

From the press release from WindAware:

The High Court has issued its order regarding the seven families from Cork who were impacted by noise pollution from a nearby wind farm. A number of the families had to abandon their homes because of the severity of the noise and some lived up to a full 1km from the wind farm.
Here is a link to the court order .

The outcome of the April court case could be a watershed for existing and planned wind farms as well as for investor confidence in, and government plans for the future of on-shore wind in Ireland. Many families, similarly affected by noisy wind turbines are anxiously awaiting the outcome and it is expected that more cases will now follow.

h/t Sarah.

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