Solar farm

Solar energy makes noise. There are inverters, substations, transformers, transmission lines and more at work in industrial level solar plants.

Does Oregon need regulations for that noise?

To hit state policy goals, Oregon may have to go from 500 megawatts of solar in 2020 to 10,550 megawatts in 2050. That’s a lot more land for solar — it would be more noise.

What Oregon may do is allow solar energy generation to go by the same rules the state allowed in 2004 for wind power.

That translates into a background ambient noise of 26dBA, or 26 decibels with the decibels weighted for how they sound to the human ear. A solar energy facility could exceed those levels by more than 10 dBA, if it were able to get affected landowners to sign a waiver.

So how loud is that? A whisper is about 25dBA. A normal conversation is about 60-70. A chainsaw at 3 feet away is about 100.

Then, 26dBA may not be all that loud as long as you wouldn’t be bothered by that level of constant noise. And it may not matter to much to you now, but there is more solar coming.

Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council may approve this change proposed by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on July 19.

There is more information here: tinyurl.com/noisesolar.