What is a wind turbine syndrome? Is the broadband noise and low frequency sound detrimental to human health? A French court has now set a precedent, and awarded a compensation of EU€120,000 to a Belgian couple, who won the case against wind turbines.

Wind turbine syndrome, also known as wind farm syndrome, consists of symptoms such as tinnitus, headache, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, mental exhaustion, and inattention. Despite having yet to be medically confirmed, the relevance is recognized if there are wind turbines or wind farms within a radius of 2km.

The plaintiff for the litigation is Belgian couple Christel and Luc Fockaert, who pointed out that they were initially not against the installation of wind turbines, but they eventually became the source of their nightmares.

It all started in the period between 2008 and 2009, when 6 units of wind turbines were installed roughly 700-1,300m away from the residence of the couple in southern France by the two energy companies Margnes Energy and Sasu Singladou Energy. Everything was functioning as normal, and the wind turbines were also blockaded by wooden panels, until a fire incident destroyed the barrier in 2013.

The Belgian couple pointed out that the wind turbines had resulted in negative impact to their health, and yielded symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, depression, and nausea. All of the aforementioned symptoms had disappeared after they had left their old residence in 2015. The couple started a prolonged lawsuit in 2017. The 3-year medical observation period had concluded in early 2020, and the Castres court overruled the case in January of the same year.

Various medical lawsuits in the past were unrelated or had no relevance to wind turbines. More than 20 studies have pointed out that the noise produced by wind turbines has no direct connection to any human health issues, let alone cancerous risks. Doctors would usually attribute the bad conditions of the patients to a negative placebo effect, which refers to a negative state of mind that is aroused when a person is untrusting or unhappy towards certain things.

The Toulouse High Court had set a precedent last week by claiming that “wind turbine syndrome” does exist, and awarded a compensation of EU€120,000 to the Belgian couple.

Anti-wind energy groups have expressed their support since the law now recognizes the particular syndrome. However, this is just one single case, and Terasse commented that the litigation cannot be replicated, since each case is independent and requires different investigation method, even though wind farms have indeed resulted in uncommon issues due to configuration.

The National Institutes of Health has yet to recognize “wind turbine syndrome” as an actual physical sickness, and sees it as a “pseudoscience”. Despite no evidence pointing to wind farms being harmful to human health, the corresponding noise can indeed affect the life quality of residents, and there are countries that have legislated the distance and depth of wind turbines.

 (Cover photo source: Unsplash)