Quantity of audible windmills' sound produced by 26 units
The wind energy company has taken its case to the Federal Administrative Court (BVG) following a previous dismissal by the Higher Administrative Court. The company is challenging ancillary conditions related to the performance-reduced operation of two wind turbines at night.
The Higher Administrative Court had previously found that the additional loads generated by the plaintiff's wind energy installations at the relevant emissions points are more than 10 dB(A) below the applicable emission guideline values. However, the wind energy company is now arguing that these conditions violate the Technical Guidance on the Protection against Noise - TA Lärm.
The BVG finds that TA Lärm provides a binding procedure for assessing harmful environmental impacts. According to TA Lärm, the additional load generated by the wind energy installations is to be considered irrelevant at the relevant emissions points and outside the area of influence of the wind energy installations.
The definition of the term "area of influence" focuses exclusively on the noise generated by the facility to be approved. However, with a large number of acting installations, the assumption underlying the determination of the impact area according to TA Lärm, that only a limited number of twelve installations act on an emissions point, is no longer tenable.
The ancillary conditions include restrictions based on emissions and nature protection law. They also require sound and performance-reduced operation during nighttime. The BVG states that the first-instance ruling violates revisable law if it assumes a limited pre-existing pollution in the definition of the area of influence according to TA Lärm.
The assessment of whether harmful environmental impacts are caused by an immission control facility requiring a permit must be based on the tests prescribed under TA Lärm. The normative concretization of the legal standard for the harmfulness of noise by TA Lärm is final and assigns certain types of areas and times of day to specific emission limit values.
If an additional load in the area of influence is considered irrelevant according to TA Lärm, the same applies to protected areas outside the area of influence. The BVG rejects the assumption that the additional load caused by the facilities to be approved justifies a special case examination due to the existing pollution.
The regulations on sound protection during nighttime are necessary to secure the basic requirements of § 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 BImSchG. The permits for the wind turbines also contain further ancillary conditions, such as for measurements, proofs, and shutdown times.
As of now, the Federal Administrative Court has not yet made a decision on the matter. The search results do not provide information about the name of the wind energy company suing over these ancillary conditions for the construction and operation of three wind turbines in a wind farm.
