Mysterious humming noise in Wijk aan Zee keeps residents up at night

Residents of the village Wijk aan Zee located on the North Sea coast have been plagued by a mysterious noise for months, NOS reported on Thursday. The hum may originate from a transformer station operated by the grid operator TenneT.

NH Nieuws reported on Wednesday that residents in the area have been disturbed by a humming noise since January, primarily at night. "If I'm sitting downstairs and I don't have a TV on, I hear it, but if I'm sleeping upstairs I hear it too," a resident told the regional broadcaster. "During the day you are busy with things and you don't pay much attention to them. But when you are alone at home, you just hear that buzzing."

Speculation on social media suggests TenneT's installation in the village, which converts power from offshore wind turbines, might be the source of the sound. The transformer station began operations in February.

Petri Raymakers, who strongly opposed the transformer station's construction with the action group "Ban de Brom," expressed concerns. "This is what we feared." He noted that while pinpointing the cause of low-frequency noise is challenging, it can greatly disturb people.

A spokesperson for TenneT declared that they had not heard of the complaints before. They plan to consult their environmental department and acoustic advisor, and if necessary, will conduct measurements to ensure their installations are not exceeding noise limits. The grid operator previously had measurements carried out by an independent agency when the transformers had not yet been put into use.

The local environmental department informed NH Nieuws that they have received several reports of noise pollution and have conducted three nighttime noise measurements since January, with the most recent one in September. "No exceedances were detected, and we were also unable to determine the cause of the nuisance experienced," they stated. They assured they will remain attentive to the issue.