Are Solar Farms noisy? Does anyone have any experience of one in their area?

[PositivelyGlowing]

There's a proposal to build a large solar farm near me, covering about 200 acres.

I've read different opinions about the noise from the assorted inverters that convert the electricity generated by the panels, how far the noise travels on a quiet or a windy day, how that noise affects wildlife (or even pet dogs which have amazing hearing), etc.

Does anyone here have any experience, either good or bad, particularly related to noise? If the noise was annoying, how close were you to the solar farm for example?

I don't live near enough to one but there are quite a few local to me and I didnt know the made a noise, I've certainly not noticed when near them

Why would they make noise? It’s literally the sun heating up some panels.

We have solar panels on our house and we can’t heart anything. All the houses in my little neighbourhood have solar and there is no noticeable noise

They aren’t noisy at all

No noise at all.

We are fully self-sufficient for electricity with our solar. We have 25 or 30 panels I think. They make absolutely no noise at all.

In operation they are not noisy, and furthermore mean that for 20/25 years there be far fewer tractor movements and no combines! So, that’s a plus. On the other hand, building 200 acres of solar (which will be around 40Mw) will mean an awful lot of construction traffic for a 3 to 6 month period, and possible roadwork as as cables are laid to the nearest substation. So a short period of disruption in exchange for 25 years of peace and quiet :)

Thanks all.

As noted in my original post:

"I've read different opinions about the noise from the assorted inverters that convert the electricity generated by the panels"

In other words I'm not referring to the panels but to the inverters - these are units of varying sizes which the solar panels feed into - they then convert the DC electricity from the solar panels into AC to feed into the electricity grid.

There are reports that some made a loud and noticeable buzz/hum.

The battery storage or BESS as they are called are noisy. They store the electric from the panels. They have fans to keep them cool.

obviously not industrial scale but the inverter for our solar doesn't make much noise at all
I imagine if you are stood next to an industrial inverter you would hear it but say the solar farm takes up a whole field the inverter willl be put in a corner probably as far as possible from anywhere that would be bothered by it.

A wind turbine OTOH makes a right racket.

We have a wind turbine quite near us and can't hear it at all. Before it was put up they put a microphone thing in our garden to test the ambient sound before and after its construction and there was no difference.

As a PP has mentioned, check if the solar farm incorporates battery storage. Many new proposals are including storage these days. Solar farms and the associated equipment do not generate perceptible levels of noise in operation (construction noise, yes). However, battery energy storage sites (bess) can be noisy with tones that a nuisance to people living nearby. Battery storage also has a (very small) risk of fire. I wouldn't mind solar panels (have them on the house and the invertor is on our kitchen wall, it makes a very sight noise) but I would mind if there was a grid scale battery storage within a couple of hundred metres.