Wind Farm Noise Maps in a Country Side Area

The need for alternative and sustainable energy sources is of high importance nowadays, due to the growth in energy demand and, subsequently, the rise of pollution issues. One of the most relevant source of sustainable energy is the wind. Even if wind turbines represent a clean power source, the acoustical and visual impacts have to be taken into account. The installation of wind turbine, in fact, can lead to annoyance related to the noise emissions, even in rural areas. In this paper, the monitoring of noise emissions by a wind farm is performed with the aid of a predictive software. Different noise emission scenarios are sketched, related to the wind condition. The introduction of directivity in the source represents a novelty that can improve the prediction of noise maps, with respect to the pointlike source approximation