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Windfarms on a massive scale: turbines nearly as big as Blackpool Tower



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Published Date:
16 February 2008
THE Dyfnant Forest is to be developed into one of the largest wind farms in the country it has been revealed – just weeks after Rhodri Morgan told the County Times how Powys has got off scot free.

During his recent visit to Welshpool, First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan dismissed suggestions that Mid Wales is a dumping ground for wind turbines by claiming none of the plans to lease Forestry Commission managed land for the construction of wind farms fell inside Powys.

However, while claiming Powys had got off scot free, he failed to mention four sections of freehold Forestry Commission land earmarked for development in Powys – Dyfnant being the largest (see below for information on the others).

These claims have left a sour taste among residents and organisations in the Dyfnant Forest, who are now labelling Rhodri Morgan as either 'ignorant or a liar.'

"This is a prime example of Rhodri Morgan having no idea where Powys is," blasted Susan Wilkinson, vice chairman and health and safety advisor for the Dyfnant and Vyrnwy Horse Riders and Carriage Drivers Association.

"We now call on him to honour his statement made during his recent trip to Welshpool. We want the Dyfnant Forest to be excluded from the leasing process for wind farm development so the forests of Powys will remain 'scot free' of industrial wind farm development.

"If Rhodri Morgan cannot honour his pledge to the people of Powys then it once again indicates that Mid Wales is dumped upon by Cardiff."
It is understood that at least 30 wind turbines, each two thirds the height of Blackpool Tower, are to be developed on the 22,000-acre site at Dyfnant.

One and half hectares of forest will have to be felled for every turbine that is erected. To erect over 30 turbines would decimate the landscape, including the Black Grouse and Pine Martin that inhabit part of the forest.

A large scale wind farm development would also have huge implications on a number of local businesses in the area, such as The Dyfnant and Vyrnwy Horse Riders and Carriage Drivers Association, near Lake Vyrnwy, which was formed in 2001 with funding from Welsh development, Money Adwyfiom and a grant from Llanfair and District Community.

Susan Wilkinson added: "We formed in 2001 as a regeneration community led project for the area in line with the 'Woodlands for Wales Strategy' and the 'Saddling up for Success' document commissioned by the Welsh Tourism board. Six years of hard work later and the Rainbow Trails were officially opened in June 2007.

"The Rainbow Trails are used by the whole community and many equestrians come from far away and stay in the area. A fortune has been spent on the forest for riding trails, including Assembly money, but because the application is for wind turbines over 50 mega watts it will be dealt with by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, bypassing Powys County Council and the Assembly.

"Thousands of pounds of European money has been invested here, but if this plan for turbines goes ahead it will become a wind farm ghetto and a place no tourists will want to visit."

Aaron Fortt, for the Forestry Commission, said the forest fell within one of the strategic search areas identified for possible wind farm development by the Welsh Assembly Government.

He said: "The Forestry Commission manages the land for the Welsh Assembly Government and we are currently carrying out a procurement exercise for the Assembly to find the best energy company prior to a planning application being submitted."

The County Times believes development on the Dyfnant Forest is imminent and the preferred bidder has come from a Spanish company called Iberdrola.

What do you think? Register and add your comments below, write to County Times, 11c Broad Street, Welshpool, SY21 7LE, or email us at news@countytimes.co.uk

The full article contains 659 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 16 February 2008 9:09 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Welshpool, Powys
 
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Roman Jones,

Abermule 19/02/2008 21:32:05
Rhodri Morgan has proven that the Labour cares nothing for rural Wales, and is happy to destroy our beautiful landscape - and over spurious claims to reduce carbon emissions, even though they need permanent backing up by coal-fired power stations that cannot be turned off! These wind turbines are not the solution to our energy needs, they part of the problem!
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Dan Munford,

Welshpool 19/02/2008 22:09:42
We already live with 283 wind turbines in Mid Wales. Unfortunately, it is absolutely the case that they make little or no significant contribution to carbon reduction and fighting global warming. These existing turbines are between 131 and 217 feet high. The 13 new development sites in Mid Wales means an additional 200 odd wind turbines and the impact is going to be devastating, because, unlike the ones we have already, some of these new "monster" turbines are up to 415 feet high.
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simeon anderson,

trefeglwys 19/02/2008 22:33:47
A windfarm developer called Acciona also has proposals for a substantial Wind Turbine Development on our doorstep in Trefeglwys. The nearest turbine proposed to our house is 600m away. We understand that these are the new generation of monster turbines could be 400 feet high or put another way eleven two storey houses piled on top of each other or more than the height of Big Ben!
 
Obviously we are deeply worried by the effects of noise we are likely to experience at particularly seeing as us and a lot of neighbours as we are downwind and below the site of the turbines. How for instance are we to ride horses past the site of the turbines, when they throw ice from their blades could the impact kill someone, when the sun sets behind them how will we live with shadow of the rotating blades, should we wish to get a television set will there be a signal, where will the electricity pylons go, how much wildlife will be decimated, wont tourists want to avoid this area, will the peat bogs ever recover from the intensive construction caused by pouring 300 tonnes of concrete in each hole etc etc
 
We do not blame the farming community for the income that they will receive, or the developers for seeking profit from the ridiculous 60-80pc subsidies available from central government. The blame lies solely with those that can standby and allow inappropriate development which will facilitate the degradation of these pristine landscapes and environments that should be our common gift to the next generation.
 
I believe in reasoned argument, but not a political agenda that will deny our children their heritage. Together we can explore within our community how money can be raised but we should not be bought by donations to communities from developers who see the destruction of the environment around rural villages in Powys as softer Planning targets than the home counties.
 
At a recent meeting attended by 70 local residents not a single community councillor was present to co
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Bedford,

Llanerfyl 19/02/2008 23:23:00
I am confused about certain AM’s attitude to windfarms, especially Mike Bates, or as we are starting to call him ‘Windy’ Bates, as he seems to change with the wind.

Does he think it right that one of the applicant farmers to the proposed wind farm at Mynydd Waun Fawr, whose wife has a pecuniary interest in this area of farming upland Montgomeryshire, just happens to be a Powys County Councillor, siting on the planning committee.

As he supports farmers, does he think that some £95,000 a year in Single Farm Entitlement given to this farmer (according to Powys By Value as at 12 October 2006 published by the Welsh Assembly), which we as local Tax Payers paid and a similar amount last year is well spent in light of the wind farm developers proposals at Mynydd Waun Fawr to pay some initial alleged £10,000 per turbine netting these farmers a total some £160,000 on top of their Single Farm Entitlement.

Is it just coincidence that your family also farm some of Mynydd Waun Fawr?

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Meic Hughes,

Carno 20/02/2008 09:46:11
I wonder if we may elicit from Rhodri Morgan’s comments in County Times edition 1 February 2008 his true feelings about windfarms and how they are being distributed throughout the country. Sometimes people are very reluctant to express their true feelings on a matter, but occasionally the odd word or phrase slips through from their unconscious to betray their true thoughts and feelings. When responding regarding Powys being a dumping ground for wind turbines, the First Minister said that “Powys had got off scot-free”. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the phrase ‘scot-free’ means ‘unharmed’ or ‘unpunished’. To me this indicates that Mr Morgan firmly acknowledges that had Powys had been subjected to further windfarm development (which has subsequently been shown to be the case – County Times, 15 February 2008) then he would indeed consider that Powys and its inhabitants were being harmed and/or punished by the placing of these turbines.
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Steve Wood,

Cefn Coch 20/02/2008 10:59:29
When asked if he feels Mid Wales has more than its fair share of wind turbines Rhodri Morgan’s response was “Would you rather have nuclear power stations?”

This got me thinking, Rhodri’s throwaway remark almost suggests he thinks that turbines are a substitute for nuclear power, and I'm sure that many people would love to think that.

So if you were to replace an average nuclear power station by wind turbines, how many turbines would you need?

What sort of wind farm would that look like?

An average nuclear power station say, Hartlepool has a capacity of 1190MW, and delivers 825MW ( Dukes 2007).

A wind turbine rated at 2MW delivers 0.6MW (British Wind Association) so 1375 turbines would equal Hartlepool.

Mynydd Waun Fawr needs an area of 479 Ha for 16 2MW turbines, at an area of 30 Ha per turbine.

1375 turbines would occupy an area of 41300 Ha, which is 413 square Km or 160 square miles.

160 square miles?

Imagine a windfarm stretching along the road from Chester to Cardiff (via Builth), 1 mile wide (as wide as the Severn valley at Welshpool) .

Hartlepool contributes about one twelfth of nuclear power, so twelve of those wind farms should do the trick! (when the wind is blowing).

Nuclear power contributes just less than 20% of our total electricity production.
Joking aside, if Rhodri’s advisers are mis-informing him on windpower to this extent it is no wonder that TAN 8 enjoys such an unquestioned position.
Get real Rhodri!

Steve Wood

Dol-y-Fardyn Fawr

Cefn Coch
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ja.mollet@planet.nl,

Holland 20/02/2008 12:40:06
Here in Holland we had a government minister for the first time banning turbines because, as she told it would ruin the open landscape too much......could be a turning point in the battle against the turbines.
The same time she admitted that turbines are the cheapest way to show people that the governement is doing something about the climate problem. But no one takes into account that turebines never can be a real solution. It is a great shame that Your beautifull countrysides, that I have come to love so much, are ruined because of the turbines. England is rapidly becoming one big turbine site and that makes me feel so sad.........
But be less sad knowing that at this moment more people are campaining against turbines than there ever were people campaining against nuclear power plants.
So still hope ?

Jim Mollet, Ursem , Holland
8

Maggie Flanders,

Felindre 21/02/2008 08:44:38
Proposed wind farms at Llanbadarn Fynydd and Felindre:

As I write this, wind farm developers Nueon UK Ltd are applying to the Secretary of State for planning permission to build a 17-turbine wind farm at Llanbadarn Fynydd and RES UK and Ireland Ltd are working up plans for a 31-turbine wind farm at Garreg Lwyd, Felindre. Construction of these two wind farms will affect ALL Powys residents, not just those in the immediate vicinity of the site, as they will entail large-scale road-widening works to enable all the construction components to be transported to the sites. Both developers propose using the Kerry to Dolfor by-way and then the roads over the open moorland; not only will the road widening works create massive distruption for all who reside along the route but they will also have a very serious harmful effect on our local flora and fauna and will completely despoil forever our beautiful by-ways and moorlands. ALL Powys residents will, in perpetuity, have to pay, through their Council Tax, for the maintenance of these widenened roads.

Nuon UK Ltd openly admit in their Non Technical Summary that "The wind farm will connect into the electricity transmission system off-site via overhead cables. The precise nature and route is under discussion with the relevent power distributor and will be the subject of a separate application process." What construction works will be required for the pylons to carry the overhead cables? What will be the route of these cables and where will the pylons be sited? It is a nonsense for Nuon's wind farm application to be considered before all the details of how the electricity generated on that site will be connected into the national grid. What happens if the wind farm is built but it then takes several years for the connection to be achieved? It is public money (ie our money) which is being used to subsidise the construction of these wind farms - is this a sensible and economic use of our money?

The area in which these two w
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Maggie Flanders,

Felindre 21/02/2008 08:57:50
Proposed wind farms at Llanbadarn Fynydd and Felindre:

The area in whcih these two wind farms will be sited is one currently used by our military for low-flying practice. Will these training flights be relocated to a more densely-populated area? Will they be suspended altogether, thus putting our military personnel at risk through lack of training? It is inconceivable that our national safety and security can be seen as of secondary inportance to a wind farm.

Finally, How "green" will the electricity generated at these sites actually be, when weighed against the emissions created by the construction and transportation of all components, the road-widening works and the construction of the connections into the national grid?

I urge all Powys residents to formally object to all plananing applications for wind farms in this county and to call for public enquiries to be held so that all points can be fully and openly debated. The damage to our flora and fauna, our beautiful scenery and the misery and loss of quality of life which local residents will have to suffer will be horrendous. If we don't act now, it will be too late.

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S P,

Montgomeryshire 21/02/2008 10:23:57
Thanks to Steve Wood (above) for supplying some facts - sadly too many of our elected representatives and the general public don't know that there is no rational argument for allowing these monstrosities to spoil our beautiful countryside. They seem to think that Wind=Green=Good and can't accept that it requires a little more analysis than that.
Of course there are huge vested interests and vast amounts of money at stake. We are few and far between up here so, unlike Mr Morgan's urban constituency, there aren't many votes at stake. We subsidise the urban south with our taxes but we should not be expected to sacrifice our landscape for them as well.
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