A wind change at Meridian power company's giant wind farm on the Ruahine Ranges has prompted a flood of complaints from nearby residents.
Residents in the small Manawatu town of Ashurst say that in an easterly there is an intrusive rumble for days on end. They say the windmills emitted a low frequency noise for three days on end, making their lives a living hell.
The Te Apiti windfarm turbines have a steady sound in the prevailing westerly wind but when the wind suddenly, and unusually, turned easterly last weekend Ashurst residents say it bombarded them with noise and vibration.
"On Monday night the rumbling was so bad it sounded like one of those street cleaning machines was driving up and down near the house. In fact it sounded like it was going to come through the house," says Wendy Brock.
Geoff Keall said whether people were inside or outside it had an impact.
The blades on each of the 55 turbines are the size of a Boeing 747 wing and they produce enough electricity to power 45,000 homes.
Tararua District Council says measuring the noise is difficult, but it is concerned for the residents. Spokesman Mike Brown from Tararua District says he believes Meridian is also concerned and they will be talking together to see what can be done to resolve the issue.
But Meridian says it's a small number of people making a big noise about nothing.
Spokesman Alan Seay says they monitor the sound levels at a number of points and the monitoring has shown quite clearly they were well within the guidelines.
There's growing opposition from the public to windfarms.
Previously people have been generally supportive of windpower, but when a power company recently applied to instal a further 40 wind turbines, it attracted objections from more than 250 people.
However, despite the latest complaints windfarms on the Ruahine and Tararua ranges are expected to expand.
