Operational noise assessment for battery storage (BESS)
Noise assessment for battery storage (BESS): noise protection test report as the basis for the permit and safe operation.
Battery storage systems are not noiseless either. Authorities, residents and project partners want to know how loud a plant is at the nearest dwelling. We prepare sound test reports for your battery storage systems and ensure that the required noise protection requirements are met. The basis is rating levels, which we determine precisely with modern calculation software and assess in compliance with standards.
Technically, the noise sources come first: cooling fans, inverters and transformers. Their emissions are stated as sound pressure levels at a defined distance or as sound power levels, together with operating times and site plans of the plant. Manufacturer data serve as the emission input; calculations usually assume conservative full-load operation, with fan output depending on the outside temperature. Different operating states are considered for day and night, since storage can also charge and discharge at night and the night period is often decisive. Several sources are added energetically. Sound propagation outdoors is then modelled by calculation, for example under ÖNORM ISO 9613-2, and the result is calculated at the nearest residential areas. The baseline level describes the starting situation there, and the assessment follows the procedure relevant in each case.
Assessment follows the respective procedure. In the electricity-law procedure, nuisances must be limited to a reasonable level, with the change in local conditions judged against a healthy, normally sensitive person. In spatial planning, guide values by area category and time period (day, evening, night) serve as the yardstick: there is a standard case and two action levels, each 5 dB higher. For battery storage, attention is also paid to low-frequency and tonal components, whose final assessment requires a measurement in case of doubt. Noise and electromagnetic fields are often also assessed in the procedure from a human-medical perspective. Minimum distances to residential uses or noise protection measures can be derived from the results. ÖNORM S 5021 provides the acoustic basis for local spatial planning, and for propagation calculations ÖAL Guideline No. 28 is also referred to. Use categories range from health resort and hospital areas through residential and recreational areas to commercial, trade and industrial areas; for grassland zonings, the assignments are recommendations. The assignment to the categories of ÖNORM S 5021 is to be made on the basis of the edition of the standard in force and the respective zoning.
Where necessary, we give recommendations for noise optimisation in compliance with statutory provisions, for example on the siting and orientation of units. We determine the baseline levels at the site with sound immission measurement for storage and grid. We coordinate closely with permitting authorities, experts and host municipalities and accompany your authority procedure and the discussions with the manufacturer. Which units are installed is clarified by consulting on plant equipment. The report is part of the expert support for approval procedures for battery storage. For wind farms, there is the operational and construction noise assessment.
