3.4 The landscape and visual impacts of a wind turbine vary not only with its size, but also with the make and model of the turbine proposed. Turbines of the same height may have varying visual appearances due to their different design and technical characteristics.
3.5 Windfarm developers are often reluctant to be specific as to the actual model of turbine to be used because market availability, costs, and turbine technology may change during the period between submitting an application and actual
construction. However, they will usually have a shortlist of preferred models for consideration and applications should include details of these.
The LVIA and EIA should assess, as far as is possible, impacts of the model within the shortlist that represents the ‘worst case scenario’.
3.6 Turbine properties, in addition to height, colour and individual design, which may be important when choosing the most appropriate model for a particular site, are:
– the proportion of blade length to tower height; and
– the dynamic impact resulting from rotation of the turbine blades (larger, slow moving blades will have a very different impact from shorter, faster moving blades which may give the impression of increased clutter).