_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 GM Institute of Technology, NBA Chief Coordinator, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.B. Road, Davangere-577006, India. 2 Gamesa Wind Turbine Pvt. Ltd, Vice President, HSE, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power Pvt Ltd, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. 3 GM Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.B.Road, Davangere-577006, India. *Corresponding author: E-mail: rajakumardyl@gmail.com; Chapter 7 Print ISBN: 978-93-91312-82-4, eBook ISBN: 978-93-91312-83-1 Study on Environmental Impact of Noise Generation Due to Operation of Wind Turbine Generators D. G. Rajakumar 1* , M. C. Mallikarjune Gowda 2 , S. U. Suresh Babu 3 and G. K. Mounesh 3 DOI: 10.9734/bpi/naer/v2/9946D ABSTRACT Power generation from wind energy has increased to a great extent in India during the recent past. The operation of Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) during power generation process generates noise of two types, one is mechanical noise and other one is Air cut noise. Any undesirable sound is considered as Noise. There are government regulations for the noise generation by any industry/personnel. The main aim of present paper is to reveal the range and impact of noise and its effect to the nearby dwellings considering a case study approach for the wind farm located in southern part of India. Study records the data related to noise level within and nearby the WTGs and measures it effect for day and night time for wind turbine located in Udumalaipet area of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu India. Study uses both practical (on site data) and theoretical or standard noise level data prescribed by the Government of India to install any wind turbine generator near the dwellings. It also considers the important parameters like time and distance of measurement to assess the effect of noise considering different ratings of WTGs with different distance from them. Hence, it can be concluded that there is no issue of noise pollution to the neighboring society during the day and night time operation of WTG ratings of 0.85MW or 2 MW at different locations and are environmental friendly with their noise level within the acceptable level / zone prescribed by the Government authorities. Keywords: Environmental impact; noise level; society; different ratings of WTGs; wind turbine generators; impact of noise. 1. INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of industrialization, energy consumption has increased far more rapidly than the number of people on the planet. It is known that the consumption of energy is amazingly high and the fossil based resources may not be able to provide energy for the whole world as these resources will be used up in the near future. Combustion of fossil fuels is believed to be one of the primary factors contributing to global warming. Energy researchers, industrial professionals, and government decision makers have increasingly turned their attention to renewable energy sources in an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Energy technologies such as biomass, wind, and geothermal are developing very fast and are becoming more commercially competitive [1]. Hence, renewable energy expected to play an important role in handling the demand of the energy required along with environmental pollution prevention. The impacts of the wind energy on the environment are important to be studied before any wind firm construction or a decision is made. Although many countries showing great interest towards renewable or green energy generation as per the opinion of R. Saidur et al. [2].