A number of residents of Veenoord do not have a good word for the municipality of Emmen, because it has given TenneT and Enexis permission for a large power station on Boerdijk in Veenoord. “We will soon have a humming sound 7 days a week and 24 hours a day,” they said at the Council of State.
This is a high-voltage substation at the Boerdijk exit of the A37. The station on a 15-hectare site is necessary, according to grid manager TenneT, because the capacity of the power grid in Southeast Drenthe is too small. There is no room to connect new sustainable energy sources.
TenneT wants to start work next year. A majority in the Emmen city council adopted a zoning plan in February. Residents of Veenoord therefore approached the Council of State with a request for suspension against the plan.
Boerdijk was the cheapest solution because it is close to existing high-voltage lines, the residents say. The alternative proposed by them, the Doemsdiek in Wachtum, was rejected by the municipality. The eleven objectors have the feeling that they have not had a voice and that has aroused a lot of resentment, as it turned out at the hearing.
Their greatest fear is the continuous hum of a high-voltage substation. They predict that they will get complaints. There is not yet a legal standard for this low-frequency noise.
According to Emmen and owner TenneT, there will be no noise nuisance in the homes. Emmen uses a model that determines the nuisance of humming sounds for the average home. But the residents say they live in poorly insulated pre-war houses. They think the municipality should have included this in the nuisance calculations.
Emmen has not done that, because the homes in the vicinity of the high-voltage station have not been specifically investigated. However, the distance to the houses of the objectors was examined. It is more than 500 meters and that is enough, says an expert from the municipality. The Council of State has accepted the calculation model in previous cases.
TenneT wants to apply for permits for construction and groundwater extraction in 2024. There must also be an exemption from the nature conservation law for disturbing badgers that get in the way. TenneT wants to have the high-voltage substation operational by 2027.
The Council of State will in any case draw a line through one article in the zoning plan. This has to do with the landscape integration. The zoning plan states that TenneT is obliged to integrate the power station into the landscape in accordance with a design plan. But the plan also includes an escape route.
The verdict will follow in three weeks.