Meikle Wind

About This Project

Above rugged, mountainous terrain just outside of Tumbler Ridge, BC, the blades of 61 General Electric turbines spin wind into electricity. These turbines are Meikle Wind, the province’s largest wind energy facility. It generates enough electricity to power 54,000 homes every year.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

During the project’s development stage, BKL was hired to conduct a construction and operations noise assessment in accordance with BC’s Environmental Assessment Act (BCEAA). BKL’s goal was to predict future noise levels and determine if operations noise from Meikle Wind could affect humans and wildlife in the area.

ACOUSTICAL CHALLENGES

The province’s noise guidelines for wind power projects are limited to human receivers and don’t adequately address a number of important variables that can affect the results of noise predictions. Examples of these variables include terrain shielding, sound power uncertainty, and amplification across valleys. Therefore, in addition the provincial guidelines, BKL also applied international criteria and best practices on noise modelling to ensure its assessment accounted for all variables.

You can read more about interpreting and critiquing BC’s acoustical guidelines for wind power noise in BKL’s paper on the subject, which was published by the Canadian Acoustical Association in 2016.

WILDLIFE HABITAT

For Meikle Wind, BKL’s acoustical team created a 3-D model that incorporated all nearby noise-sensitive human receivers, as well as wildlife habitat areas. While the nearest permanent residences are 33 kilometers from the wind farm, the closest human receiver scoped into the project was a campground at Gwillim Lake, around 6 kilometres from the nearest turbine. Sensitive wildlife habitat, however, was much closer to the proposed turbine locations. To assess noise levels on wildlife, BKL located receivers in its computer model to account for caribou, deer, elk, moose, and breeding bird habitat areas. Later, when the project changed the quantity and model of turbines, BKL updated its 3-D model and factored in the variation in octave band sound power levels between turbine models. Once all the updates were included, the study showed that noise levels would be lower by 1–2 dBA.

PROJECT BENEFITS

After identifying and accounting for limitations in the provincial guidelines for assessing wind power noise, BKL conducted a thorough environmental noise assessment. BKL’s noise predictions supported the project’s successful application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate. Today Meikle Wind is fully operational, delivering up to 180 megawatts of clean electricity to BC’s grid.

The People Behind Our Work

Our Technical Leads
Our Team

Mark Bliss

P.Eng., INCE

President

Mark Bliss, P.Eng., INCE

President

Mark Bliss is a professional engineer and member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE), with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia. He has practiced as an acoustical consultant since 2003.

Mark specializes in environmental noise and vibration assessment, with extensive experience evaluating transportation, industrial, construction, entertainment, commercial and other noise impacts. He has worked with all levels of government on noise policy and planning, and has appeared as an expert witness before the British Columbia Supreme Court and at municipal council hearings.

His work includes field measurement, noise modelling, mitigation assessment and detailed reporting, using national and international standards and specialized software such as Cadna/A. He has prepared Environmental Assessment Certificate applications to BCEAA, CEAA and IFC requirements, and has conducted third-party reviews and training in noise and vibration measurement and assessment.

Mark also has extensive experience in building acoustics, working on new construction and renovations to address environmental and mechanical noise, improve speech intelligibility and room acoustics, and achieve effective airborne and impact sound isolation. His work draws on CSA, ISO, ASTM, ANSI, WHO, Health Canada and other recognized standards and guidelines.
Gary Mak

P.Eng., PMP

Technical Director, Environmental Noise and Vibration

Gary Mak, P.Eng., PMP

Technical Director, Environmental Noise and Vibration

Gary Mak graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and joined BKL the same year. Gary has since worked in the areas of environmental noise assessments, mechanical/industrial noise control, and architectural acoustics.

Gary’s experience in architectural acoustics includes hospitals, educational facilities, performance spaces, offices, and operations buildings. His contributions to these projects include reviewing project acoustical requirements and building designs for partition sound isolation, room acoustics, mechanical noise control, and environmental noise control. For performance venues, Gary has experience working with more advanced techniques and parameters to assess and improve acoustical conditions for performers and audiences.

Performing noise and vibration impact assessments for transportation, construction, industrial, and commercial projects, Gary has established baseline noise conditions, predicted future noise environments, rated noise impacts, and determined mitigation measures to meet project criteria. In particular, he has worked on mines, terminals, rail, transit centres, district energy centres, and other industrial and transportation projects.

Gary is proficient in performing noise and vibration measurements with a variety of specialized equipment for investigations, bylaw assessments, room acoustics, and Sound Transmission Class (STC), and Impact Insulation Class (IIC) testing. He is also very familiar with using acoustical software including Cadna/A, Samurai, Insul, EASERA, and ODEON for impact analysis and design.
Brigette Martin

P.Eng., WELL AP

Technical Director, Sound and Vibration Measurements

Brigette Martin, P.Eng., WELL AP

Technical Director, Sound and Vibration Measurements

Brigette Martin graduated from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2009. Before joining BKL in 2015, Brigette worked as an acoustic consultant on various building and environmental projects throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Brigette has extensive experience with environmental noise including assessing noise impacts and designing noise mitigation for gas compressor and pump stations, power generation sites, port terminals, and transformers sites; modelling construction noise, and developing construction noise abatement and management plans; designing noise controls and preparing noise management plans for mines and quarries; and monitoring benchmark noise, developing 3-D noise models, and designing noise walls for road infrastructure projects.

In the area of building acoustics, Brigette has been involved in numerous projects and has consulted on sound insulation and mechanical services design, as well as controlling external noise intrusion and reverberation noise levels, and optimizing speech clarity for critical spaces.

Over her career, Brigette has gained experience with a wide range of technical equipment and software including Insul, SoundPLAN, Cadna/A, SONarchitect, Brüel & Kjær analyzers, and numerous other sound level meters.

Brigette has also developed and presented training courses for using acoustical software and sound level meters for acoustical engineers and clients throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Trevor Cheng

P.Eng., MIOA

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Trevor Cheng, P.Eng., MIOA

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Trevor Cheng holds a bachelor of applied science (engineering physics) from University of British Columbia and joined BKL in January 2016, with experience in environmental and architectural acoustics, as well as condition monitoring, and machine vibration analysis and diagnostics.

With BKL, Trevor has primarily been involved in transportation, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure projects. His work experience includes measuring baseline noise conditions, predicting future noise environments, assessing noise impact, and offering mitigation measures where appropriate.

Trevor also has experience in architectural acoustics, working on hospitals, performance spaces, and multipurpose buildings. He is proficient in measuring noise insulation performance, reviewing building designs, and predicting noise levels from HVAC equipment.

Prior to joining BKL, Trevor worked in London, UK, on a wide variety of projects ranging from large-scale architectural renovations to major airport improvement works. He has unique experience in measuring and assessing noise and vibration in buildings from underground rail sources.

He also has experience using sound level meters by Brüel & Kjær, Norsonic, and Larson Davis, and software tools such as Cadna/A. He is familiar with ASTC/AIIC testing and using acoustic software including Insul, SONarchitect, and EASE for indoor noise predictions.

Trevor is a member of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) in the UK.