I want to respond to the points made by Montgomeryshire Against Pylons (MAP) in your article published in the Powys County Times on April 17, ‘Residents object to windfarm plans near Newtown’.

EDF Renewables is pleased to be developing the Garn Fach wind farm project in partnership with 14 local farming families. We have an excellent track record of delivering successful renewables projects across the UK that provide benefits for communities and contracts for local companies.

If consented, Garn Fach will be capable of generating 110 megawatts of low carbon energy, which is enough to provide for the electricity needs of 66,000 households , and an important contribution to Wales’ carbon target of net zero by 2050.

MAP has specifically criticised our information days which took place in January.

We made a public announcement about our plans for the project on January 9, with an initial round of public information days held in five local village halls from January 21-23.

The events were designed to provide initial information as early as possible, to avoid an ‘information gap’ following what was a major local announcement. These events were only the first in a series of public engagement activities, which will include further public information days and a formal pre-application consultation later in the process.

An invitation to attend the public information days was sent to over 7,000 households within a 10km radius of site, posters advertising the events were put up in village halls, and indeed, your paper carried an article about the project which included these dates and locations.

280 people attended the public information sessions in January, which included interactive 3D computer modelling enabling participants to see a visualisation of what the proposed turbines might look like from different viewpoints. All the printed materials we used for these events are publicly available on the Garn Fach website, and we continue to welcome feedback: www.edf-re.uk/our-sites/garn-fach

A short report collating feedback from those who filled in feedback forms at the events is also available on the website.

We take our responsibility to both brief the local community and to consider feedback very seriously, and thus far we have provided briefings to all local AMs, MPs, the local ward councillors, senior council leaders and local council officers. We have presented to three different community council meetings, and had dates to attend a further three, which had to be postponed due to the public health emergency.

Currently, there is no detailed information about the grid connection. Getting a grid connection offer is part of the development process for the wind farm and we expect to receive this in the summer. At the second round of public information events, proposed grid connection details will be shared with members of the public. We recognise that this matter is of concern to many. It is worth noting that the grid companies themselves have a duty to consult the public separately on these matters.

In terms of a ‘ban’ on wind farms in England, there has never been one. Wales is a devolved nation with its own parliament and government which legislates in several devolved policy areas, including planning and most aspects of energy generation. As such, it is Welsh Government’s responsibility to decide on all wind farm projects above 10 MW.

Garn Fach wind farm is indeed on the same site as the previous Llaithddu scheme, where in 2015 planning permission was refused on landscape grounds. However, Garn Fach has been adapted significantly to take account of the advice of the inspector whose main concerns were in relation to Llaithddu’s southern turbines and their impact on the Marteg Valley and Bwlch-y-Sarnau.

The Garn Fach proposal consists of up to 22 turbines (Llaithddu proposed 27) none of which are located in the south of the site where the inspector had concerns which led to the recommendation to refuse in his report to the then UK Government Department of Energy & Climate Change.

The current design of Garn Fach therefore mitigates these impacts with the design of the wind farm being driven by further technical and environmental assessments in consultation with the local community and stakeholders such as Powys County Council and Natural Resources Wales.

We welcome further input from local communities, and we look forward to hosting public information and engagement events in the future.

Mark Vyvyan- Robinson

Director of Development and Investments, EDF Renewables UK