The plans for Carnedd Wen, on uplands near Llanbrynmair, would also involve the felling of the majority of trees at Llanbrynmair Forest to make way for a new 'habitat restoration' area.

Developers say that the site, which falls into TAN8 Strategic Search Area B, would be home to 65 turbines. Each of these would reach heights of 137 metres, the same height as the Great Pyramid of Giza, and would be among the tallest onshore turbines in England and Wales.

If approved, an area of around 2,000 hectares will be covered by the development, although a large chunk of this will come under the habitat restoration element of the application.

This part of the plans would involve the felling of thousands of relatively young trees from Llanbrynmair Forest, planted more than 20 years ago on unsuitable land, and the creation of bog land which it is hoped would encourage the re-introduction of two rare species of bird to the area.

npower renewables, the company behind the plans, said the habitat restoration side of the application goes 'far above and beyond' what is required for a windfarm application. All windfarm applications must display certain mitigating factors, be it funding for the community or the creation of jobs for local people, but this application would be unique in the scale of mitigation.

Jacob Hain, project manager, highlighted the habitat restoration elements of the application: "We believe that this development would help to secure the future of Welsh uplands and important bird populations that inhabit the area, as well as greatly contributing to the growing need for renewable energy in Wales."

Such a display of seemingly unnecessary altruism raises questions. Encouraging the re-introduction and conservation of two rare species of birds under the shadows of 65 enormous wind turbines seems odd, while the felling of pretty much an entire forest to make way for a windfarm will certainly cause controversy, as would the fact the site runs extremely close to the Snowdonia National Park.

On a visit to the site, Mr Hain also intimated that windfarms 'don't get on well with trees' due to the resulting turbulence caused to the flow of wind.

Due to the scale of the application and the potential power generated, the power to grant or refuse planning permission has been taken out of Powys County Council's (PCC) hands. Instead, the plans will be submitted to the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) as a Section 36 application, meaning the scale of the project is too big to be decided upon by a local authority.

BERR will have the final say on whether this potentially massive development goes ahead. PCC will, according to Mr Hain, be statutory consultees.

A trip to the site highlighted the sheer scale of the potential development. Standing at its highest point, all that can be seen is a carpet of trees, most of which would be removed to make way for either wind turbines or bog land.

The bog land itself would take nearly a decade to reach fruition, and the process of felling trees would take an estimated four years.

Mr Hain claimed the turbines would have the potential to power the equivalent of every home in Powys, with a total installed capacity of between 130 – 195MW. As with any windfarm however, this would not simply equate to every house in Powys getting cheap energy – all power created would be pumped straight back into the National Grid, to be distributed around the UK.

npower renewables estimates the windfarm has the potential to be fully operational by 2016, and predicts a total carbon-payback time, ie offsetting the C02 used in construction, of around two years.

Members of the public are invited to view the plans at a series of exhibitions, being held on October 17 between 2pm and 7pm at the Dyffryn Restaurant in Foel and on October 18 between 10am and 4pm at Llanbrynmair Community Centre.

To view the plans online, go to www.npower-renewables.com/carneddwen