Hiep Thanh wind power plant 78 MW is expected to come into operation in September 2021.
When operation, the plant is expected to contribute 294.44GWh/year to the national power grid. The life cycle of a wind power plant is 49 years. During the operation of the plant, we will always strive to minimize environmental and social impacts. In addition, we also accompany local people in community projects, which are built and implemented in accordance with the needs and socio-cultural context, contributing to promoting economic development, improve local infrastructure and other social conditions.
Environment Protection and Community Development
The project will bring a number of benefits or positive impacts on the environment and the community during the operation phase, including but not limited to the following:
· Create local jobs including permanent construction workers and operators.
· Improve the landscape and attract tourists with the presence of wind turbines. Thereby generating income for restaurants and businesses during construction and eco-tourism during operation.
· By supplying 294.4GWh per year to the National Grid, the project contributes to reducing CO2 emissions, towards the national target of GHG emission reduction.
· Using natural renewable energy sources, with negligible emissions, bringing sustainable values to the environment and the community.
· Reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels for power generation.
· Ensure clean electricity supply for local and regional economic development.
· Pay taxes: Value added tax, corporate income tax and other taxes.
· Committed to making an environmental impact assessment report, taking preventive measures to reduce and protect the environment in accordance with the law.
· Local support in community development activities
Some impacts and mitigation measures
Noise Impact:
Currently, all wind turbines produced have reached the noise standard. Recent new designs have changed the rotor structure to achieve minimal noise.
Currently, new MW-sized wind turbines emit about 100dB of noise in the vicinity of the rotor shaft. Therefore, with the noise source located at a height of 100m and designed to be soundproof, the noise in the vicinity of the turbine foot should not exceed 50dB. In addition, recent research results show that people's acceptance of noise from wind turbines is more influenced by attitudes towards the source of the sound than it is towards the actual noise
Sound energy decreases with the square of the distance to the sound source. In other words, if we move 200m away from the wind turbine, the sound level will generally be a quarter of the sound level at a distance of 100m.
In short, with a MW-sized wind turbine, when operating, its noise will not significantly affect human activities, outside the range of 100m onwards. In fact, wind turbine manufacturers in industrialized countries now design turbines to be used anywhere including densely populated areas, areas with forest and sea ecotourism.
Impact of flickering effect due to turbine blades:
The wind turbines are built like high structures, as the sun shines it will cover a shady area over the vicinity. Being too close to the wind turbines can cause discomfort as the rotor blades rotate in sunlight causing a flickering effect.
However, this effect is only effective over a relatively small radius, and with large turbines the rotor rotational speed is relatively low the flickering effect is greatly reduced. Proof of this: countries around the world that have installed wind power stations that have been developed for a long time have not seen complaints about this effect.
Moreover, the landscape of the wind power plant project area will be more vivid with the appearance of fans
Impact on migratory birds:
Statistical results of countries show that the rate of bird deaths due to collisions with wind turbines is almost negligible compared to deaths due to collisions with power transmission lines or vehicles. On the other hand, it also shows that birds flying over the place where the wind turbines are located, whether day or night, are aware and change their flight direction about 100-200m in front of the wind turbine and fly across the top of the rotor blades a safe distance. Some birds will get used to and adapt quickly to wind turbines.
Currently, in the project area, there are no statistics showing that there is an annual migration of migratory birds.
Impacts on radio waves:
With the height of the wind turbine, it will prevent or reflect straight-forward radio waves such as FM waves and television stations, causing interference at the receiving place due to receiving many signals with deviations in the distance. arrival time. However, compared to a tall building of the same height, this effect is much lighter due to the slender shape of the propeller. Currently, to overcome this influence, modern propellers are designed with materials that are "transparent" to radio waves, so there is almost no adverse effect on communication activities
Solutions to minimize adverse impacts from wind turbines:
The wind turbines used in the project are applied with many solutions to minimize adverse effects on the environment. To reduce noise, equipment such as gearboxes, generators are placed on dampers, all main noise sources are placed in soundproof nacelle. Turbine blades, a source of external noise, are researched and manufactured with low rotational speed (from 10 to 20 rpm) and suitable aerodynamic profile without much friction with the air. and does not make much noise when operating.
Regarding impacts on the landscape, the studied wind turbines have an industrial art design, which does not cause objection to the residents of the surrounding area. The turbine blades have a slender shape that does not cover much of the sky. The overall colour of the wind turbine is chosen to be white, not contrasting with the general colour of the sky. Support tower use round tubular posts instead of prefabricated posts due to its perfect appearance